ITANAGAR, 26 Aug: The Dunyum Colony Welfare Committee (Lower NEEPCO Colony) has claimed that the residents of the colony are being evicted by officials without any notice.
In a letter to the chief secretary, the committee members said that they have been staying in the colony “on a temporary basis by doing self-maintenance to some dilapidated structures, without applying or processing for any LPC or allotment or encroachment till date and paying electricity and water bills regularly.”
However, the committee said that, on the morning of 21 July, a team claiming to be representatives of the Doimukh SDO came to the colony without any advance notice at around 6:30 am.
“Instead of serving proper vacation/eviction notice, the informal team woke up the members of the colony by making loud noises and forcefully demanded
the colony members to vacate (the colony), which was totally illegal and against the SOPs/Covid-19 protocols/court orders,” it said.
On seeking the magistrate’s order, the colony members were reportedly given old notice copies from 2017 and 2019. Later, through RTI application, it was found that the actual vacation/eviction order was to be served on 30 July, 2021, and the committee was to be led by Doimukh EAC , who is the chairperson of the eviction/vacation committee of the SDO office in Doimukh and was absent during the 21 July incident.
The colony’s members also said that high-profile persons have been allowed to encroach on the land of Lower NEEPCO Colony and have been allowed to construct permanent structures by the Doimukh SDO and the Doimukh PS OC, “but educated unemployed youths and BPL families are being targeted and evicted.”
Claiming misuse of power, the committee sought a departmental inquiry against the Doimukh SDO-cum-estate officer, the officer-in-charge of the Doimukh police station, and the EAC-cum-chairman of the eviction committee of the Doimukh SDO office.
