Sambhal,

5 April (HS): Residents of Mubarakpur Band hamlet in Sambhal district began

dismantling a madrasa, a mosque, and a primary school erected illegally on

government land using a bulldozer on Sunday, authorities said. On Saturday,

Haji Munawwar, the village sarpanch's spouse, asked Tehsildar Dhirendra Kumar

Singh to bring machinery to complete the demolition work, claiming that manual

labor alone was insufficient. On Sunday, a bulldozer was sent into the hamlet,

paid for by the residents, to clear the structures, which included the Ghausul

Madrasa, a mosque, and a primary school sprawled across three-and-a-half bighas

of Gram Sabha property. Munawwar estimated that clearing the buildings would

take about 20 hours.

On

Saturday, the tehsildar paid a visit to the village, and we told that manually

dismantling the structures would take too long. So we requested that he bring

an excavator, which arrived today. We will shoulder the expense of its use, he

stated. Confirming that the structures were created after infringing on Gram

Sabha property, the tehsildar stated, The villagers took the initiative

to demolish the structures after realizing that they were built on government

land. They had asked our assistance to speed up the procedure.”

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi