It's like Eid: People celebrate SC stay on demolition of their homes at Haldwani

People facing demolition of their homes in Haldwanis Banbhoolpura hugged and shared sweets Thursday when they heard that the Supreme Court has stayed an Uttarakhand High Court to remove encroachments from 29 acres of railway landThe Supreme Court has sent notices to the state government and the Railways seeking their response to a bunch of petitions challenging the high court order The next SC hearing is on February 7As the news came in men women and children sitting on a dharna in front of a mosque ended the protest and hugged each other Local residents started preparing tea and distributed sweets and dates among the crowdSome waived the national flag in celebration A bunch of children held up misspelled banners saying Thank you Supreme CourtOur prayers have been answered It is no less than the Eid celebration for us We are grateful to the apex court as well as the media which showed the situation on the ground Vikki Khan saidAhmad Ali Noori recalled the agitation over the past days in bonechilling weather The protest was not just about us it was about the whole of Haldwani he saidAlso readSupreme Court stays Haldwani eviction says thousands cannot be uprooted overnightEveryone from Haldwani stood with us No matter whether they were kids or elders everyone stood with us The whole world was watching Haldwani and the top court and everyone was waiting for the court order he addedThe Uttarakhand High Court had on December 20 ordered removal of encroachments from land in Banbhoolpura area near the railway station after giving a oneweek notice to residents to vacate the areaThe railway has identified over 4000 families who it says have encroached on its landNoori said the Banbhoolpura residents had hoped the Supreme Court will give an order in their favour but as of now it has stayed the high court order We are very happy with it he addedThe Supreme Court does not belong to any religion or caste but it is for everyone and it gives justice to everyone he saidRaisul Hasan too had hoped for an immediate ruling but was happy that the high court directions have been put on hold We have got justice he said claiming that his family has been living in the area since 1947Anothert resident Rumi Warsi claimed people have been in the area for more than 140 yearsEven when there were only 3000 families living in the whole of Haldwani there were 800 houses from line number 1 to 17 in Banbhoolpura only he saidJaved Siddiqui said The good thing about the Supreme Court order is that it gives us more time to prepare ourselves for fighting our battle more systematicallyLocal people claim that they have documents to prove that they are rightful owners of the landThere are two inter colleges schools hospitals an overhead water tank a sewer line laid in 1970 a mosque and temples in the area former Congress MLA from Manglaur and AICC secretary Qazi Nizamuddin earlier saidJaved Ahmad said the order of the Supreme Court was a big relief to them Last night we were not able to sleep We spent the whole night just thinking what the verdict of the Supreme Court will beThe court heard our pleas reviewed our papers and issued notices to both the state government and the railways asking them how they can remove such a large population in just seven days he saidHe said the protest has now been postponed and they will go through what the court has ordered and then decide on the next stepObserving that many of the occupants claimed they have been living in the area for over 50 years the bench of Justice S K Kaul and Justice A S Oka said there is a human angle to the issue and the authorities have to find a practical way outWe do believe that a workable arrangement is necessary to segregate people who may have no rights on the land coupled with schemes of rehabilitation which may already exist while recognising the need of the railways the bench saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever