India’s Supreme Court halts widespread evictions in Haldwani

• Supreme Court temporarily halted Uttarakhand’s forced evacuation.
• “Thousands can’t be uprooted overnight” without rehabilitation, said Court.
• The government claims those affected trespassed on Indian Railways property.

Thousands of residents in Uttarakhand state who were being forcibly evicted from their homes have received temporary respite from the country’s top court.

A “workable solution” must be found, the highest court ruled, putting a previous high court judgement on hold.

Government representatives claim that the impacted individuals had trespassed on Indian Railways-owned property.

The state high court ordered the railways to evacuate the area in December after providing them a week’s notice.

Residents, meanwhile, have complained that they have nowhere to go.

According to reports, 50,000 people would have been left without a home if the high court’s judgement had been implemented.

They reside in communities on a 2-kilometer (1.24-mile) stretch of land close to the Haldwani train station in Uttarakhand.

The railways were instructed to “employ the troops to any extent determining upon need” to evict the “unauthorized tenants” on December 20 after providing them a week’s notice by a two-judge panel of the top court.

The Supreme Court noted that a rehabilitation plan should be in place before evictions, stating that “thousands cannot be uprooted overnight.”

After a public interest lawsuit against alleged illegal mining in the region was filed in 2013, the case’s focus was later expanded to include the claimed encroachments as well.

Residents began receiving eviction letters as of January 1, according to The Indian newspaper.

For days, hundreds of people have been protesting the decree, including women and children.

Some locals complained about harassment and questioned how hospitals and schools could have operated in the area without license, as reported by The Times of Indian newspaper.

“How is it possible to dispute the buildings created during the British era? The railways had no documentation to back up its assertion “a man reported to the newspaper.

According to a senior official, the Indian Railways can support their claim with “ancient maps, a 1959 notification, revenue records from 1971, and the results of” a 2017 survey.

The chief minister of the state had declared that his administration will abide by whatever the Supreme Court ruled.

A cold wave is currently affecting the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, where the minimum temperature is hovering around 1C.

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