Admn demolishes buildings on govt land for overbridge

MUNGER: At least one dozen residential buildings and a few shops in the Bariarpur market, 23km from the district headquarters on NH-80, were demolished on Tuesday under the supervision of circle officer Mukul Kumar Jha.In-charge DM Ishwar Chandra Sharma said on Wednesday the buildings were demolished on the district administration’s directive to pave way for the construction of a railway overbridge.Sharma said the houses were on gair mazarua land (government land). “The house owners filed a writ petition in the Patna high court demanding compensation, which was allowed considering the fact that they had settled there for a long period and deserved compensation in case of their eviction. Following the high court order, the district administration paid the compensation to all the 14 owners about four months back, but even then they were not inclined to vacate the land, forcing the district administration to demolish the buildings,” said Sharma, adding it was because of these illegal buildings that the construction of rail overbridge had been left in the lurch for the last 10 years.Sources said the overbridge construction was started in 2006 as the railway crossing at Bariarpur remained invariably closed due to movement of trains on the Bhagalpur-Jamalpur section of the Eastern Railway. This resulted in long traffic snarls on both sides of the Bariarpur-Jamui road via Haveli Kharagpur.Sharma said the bridge would be constructed very shortly.