Bareilly, 2 December: In the presence of heavy police force and the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in Sufitola area, the team of Bareilly Development Authority (BDA) ran a bulldozer on two marriage halls on Tuesday morning built illegally by Sarfaraz Wali Khan, a relative of the Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.
During this, women tried to disrupt the action by protesting but they did not succeed in front of the police.
After the involvement of Tauqeer Raza and many of his supporters came to light in Bareilly violence, the administration is continuously engaged in demolishing illegal constructions. On Tuesday, a large number of police personnel and the BDA officials arrived with JCBs in front of the marriage halls, Awan-e-Farhat, and Good Marriage Hall, located in the Sufitola area.
Seeing the police and JCBs, the women living in the area began screaming and pleading for mercy. The police team then evacuated the halls and began demolition at 10 a.m. The bulldozers demolished both marriage halls in no time. Arfa Khan, who lives on the first floor of Good Marriage Hall, said she has lived there for 20 years, and the sudden notice has terrified her family.
It’s worth noting that the administration had declared both marriage halls illegal and issued demolition orders on October 12, 2011. After their names surfaced in the September 26 riots, the administration re-examined the files and intensified the action.
Executive Engineer Dharmveer Singh Chauhan stated that the buildings were constructed without map approval, and therefore, action is being taken in accordance with the orders.
The BDA Vice Chairman Manikandan A stated that a zero-tolerance policy is being implemented against illegal construction. Demolition orders for these two marriage halls were issued in 2011. After completing all procedures, final action was taken today. Strict action will be taken wherever illegal construction is found in the future.