Date:08/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/08/stories/2007040807110500.htm

Karnataka - Bellary

27 families evicted in Bellary, houses razed

Staff Correspondent

The drive followed an order from the Lokayukta

BREAKING DOWN: A bulldozer demolishing houses in Bellary on Saturday.

BELLARY: Twenty-seven families were evicted from their houses on land opposite the Women and Children's Hospital on Anantapur road here belonging to the Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), on Saturday. The houses, most of them made of mud, were razed to the ground by bulldozers.

The action by the authorities followed an order from the Lokayukta based on a complaint that no action had been taken to clear the many houses and mechanics' shops that had come up there.

Janata Dal (Secular) activists opposed the action by the authorities, stating that no notices had been served on the residents before the eviction process began. They demanded that alternative sites be given to the people.

Minister for Tourism B. Sriramulu also took exception to the manner in which the people were being evicted. He said the authorities should have launched the drive only after making alternative arrangements.

Seeking to console the evicted families, he said that steps would be taken to provide them houses in the Mundargi locality under the Ashraya housing scheme, and the construction process would begin on Saturday itself.