HALDWANI: Four people are reported to be dead in the over the demolition of an allegedly “illegal” madrasa and an adjoining mosque in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani.

At least 250 are injured, according to media reports.

A curfew was imposed after local residents set vehicles and a police station on fire and hurled stones, over the demolition of an “illegally built” madrasa and an adjoining mosque in Malik ka Bagicha in the city’s Banbhoolpura area, officials said.

A high alert has been issued in the entire state with Internet services being suspended in Banbhoolpura. Additionally, shoot-at-sight orders against the rioters have been issued.

A high alert was also sounded in Uttar Pradesh, while strict checking of vehicles was ordered. Authorities have also been also asked to monitor social media activities.

Most of the people hospitalised after the violence were police personnel. ADGP Law and Order AP Anshuman told ANI that four people died in the violence-hit Banbhoolpura and over 100 cops were injured.

The remaining injured were municipal workers involved in the demolition of the local madrasa and a mosque in its complex. The injured also included Haldwani SDM.

In state capital Dehradun, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a meeting with senior officials on Thursday, including Chief Secretary Radha Raturi and DGP Abhinav Kumar to review the situation in Haldwani, according to an official statement.

Besides imposition of curfew in entire Haldwani, shoot-at-sight orders against rioters were also issued in the city, the statement said.

As the violence escalated, all the shops in Haldwani were closed. After the imposition of curfew, all schools from Classes 1-12 in and around the city have also been closed

Senior Superintendent of Police Prahlad Meena said the madrasa and the mosque stood on an illegally encroached government land and the demolitions were carried out in the heavy presence of police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel in compliance with a court order.

Angry residents, including women, in large numbers descended on the streets to protest the action as the demolition of the two structures began.

They were seen breaking barricades and arguing with the police personnel engaged in the demolition exercise.

As a bulldozer razed the madrasa and the mosque, mobs hurled stones at the police personnel, municipal corporation workers and journalists, officials said.

The police tried to disperse the irate mob by resorting to a mild lathi charge and bursting of teargas shells.

However, tension escalated with the mob setting fire to several vehicles, including a police patrol car, they said.

By late evening, tension mounted further and the Banbhoolpura Police Station was also set on fire, leading to imposition of curfew in the town, they added.

Meanwhile, a hearing was held by the Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday on a PIL seeking to stop the demolition of the mosque and madrasa in Haldwani.

Filed by Malik colony resident Safia Malik and others, the petition challenged the notice given by the Haldwani Municipal Corporation to the petitioners.

However, no relief was granted in the matter by the vacation bench of Justice Pankaj Purohit, following which the demolition exercise began.

After his meeting with senior officials, Dhami said, “A team of the administration had gone to the Banbhoolpura area to remove encroachments in compliance with a court order. Anarchic elements clashed with the police and indugled in arson. Curfew has been imposed and additional companies of police and central para-miltary forces are being rushed to Haldwani to maintain order.”

“Everyone has been asked to maintain peace. Stern action will be taken against the rioters who indulged in arson,” the statement quoted him as saying.

Anyone violating the curfew orders will be punished under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, the curfew order said.

Earlier, the Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani had made news in December 2022 when its residents held protests against the imminent removal of encroachments from around 29 acres of railway land there in compliance with a high court order.

The protesters had subsequently got relief from the Supreme Court in the matter.

AGATTI/KAVARATTI (Lakshadweep): The sides of a sleepy road, leading to a non-descript airport, the only one in the Lakshadweep islands, are filled with coconut trees, with white and red painted upto a quarter of their heights.

A comparatively active ocean on the Eastern side and a calm, bluish ocean on the Western side gives the road an out of the world charm.

The people on this tranquil stretch are either sitting idle or carrying on with their chores, but in a very relaxed manner that is so typical of an islander.

If the proposed airport expansion, not the limited expansion that has been on the cards for nearly a decade, but the massive one that popped up only after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier last month, materialises, then this tranquil corner of Agatti Island will become a hub of hectic activity.

The islanders, with their usual friendly demeanour, welcome the airport expansion plan and are jubilant at the prospects of development attached to it.

But behind their friendly, welcoming faces, there lies a concern of them losing their lands without proper compensation.

“We wholeheartedly welcome the airport expansion and bringing in new tourism projects. But till date nobody has given us a clear picture. A team that had come here to study about it told us we will have to part with our lands, without saying how and when and what would be given as compensation,” Husnl Jamhar, who owns a private resort near Agatti airport

He said all those who have property on both sides of the airport are more than willing to part with their property for the expansion but they should get good compensation.

“They do not communicate anything. There was no public hearing. They have cut a lot of our coconut trees, without any notice and just pay us peanuts as compensation. Such an attitude does not work when it comes to taking our land,” Jamhar said.

Sheemabi, a woman who has been living in the area, the closest to the present airport, for the last 32 years, echoes the same sentiments as Jamhar.

“This is the only land I have and it was given to me by my father. Me and my family live from the revenue I get from the coconuts from my land and if I lose that land for nothing, then we will have to starve,” she said.

Abdul Rasheed, who runs a petty shop by the sides of the airport road, too welcomes the tourism projects and airport expansion.

“Airport expansion is very crucial for the development of our islands. If connectivity is better, more people will come, bringing more jobs and more revenue. But they will have to rehabilitate us to some other area. If we are not given a proper compensation and are not rehabilitated then the project will be a doom for us,” he said.

Agatti is one of the islands in Lakshadweep which has a sizeable area of ‘Bhandara Bhoomi’ (lands given on lease to islanders on lease prior to independence).

There was a controversy earlier under the present administration alleging that the administration tried to take the land from the possession of the islanders and tried to give it on lease to some companies for tourism operations.

The islanders approached the Kerala High Court against this and the case is still under the consideration of the Court.

“The administration wants to take our land for free and to give it for development works. These lands belong to us for over a century and those lands belong to us only,” Jamhar said.

He said if that is the kind of development envisaged by the administration, then there will be a legal battle against such projects.

Though the senior officials in the Lakshadweep administration confirmed, off the record, that the proposal for the airport expansion is almost agreed upon, the Airport administration refused to say anything concrete.

A senior Airport Authority of India official at Agatti airport, who refused to comment on camera, however, said the AAI has no information regarding the proposed expansion plans.

He said that even the commissioning of new flights has not been finalised.

“It is true that some airlines have expressed their interests and talks are on. But we don’t have a date of commencement of these services. We also do not have any information regarding the proposed mega expansion,” he added.

According to the Lakshadweep administration officials, the Rs 4,500 crore airport expansion plan has been finalised and L&T will be carrying out the works.

They said a good area of the sea bed on both sides, with more area on the Eastern side, will be reclaimed and the adjacent private lands will be acquired for this expansion.

The runway will be extended to 2,800 meters to facilitate operation of Boeing A320 aircraft.

Another greenfield airport is also proposed in Minicoy.

CHENNAI: The ruling DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of speaking the language of the opposition and targeting the Congress party as though it was the ruling party at the Centre and this was a puzzle that could not be understood.

On his arrival here from Spain, completing his foreign tour to attract investments, Stalin said investment commitments to the tune of Rs 3,440 crore have been made by several companies during his visit abroad and that showed the confidence of multinational firms in Tamil Nadu and the DMK regime.

The Chief Minister exuded confidence that more investors would come forward to choose Tamil Nadu as their investment destination.

Asked about Prime Minister Modi’s address in Parliament, Stalin said he ‘saw, read, enjoyed and laughed’ at it. Modi, ever since he assumed power, has been speaking continuously as if the ‘BJP is in the opposition and the Congress is the ruling party.’ The Prime Minister behaved as though he was an opposition leader and attacked the Congress which was a ‘puzzle,’ that could not be understood, the DMK chief alleged.

To a question on Modi’s comment that the National Democratic Alliance would cross the 400-seat mark, he said he would not be surprised if the Prime Minister were to make a remark that the NDA would go on to win all the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha. “Is the total (number of LS segments) only 400? There are 543 constituencies and there will be no surprise if he says he will (the BJP/NDA) win them all.”

On February 5, Prime Minister Modi predicted that the BJP will “definitely” get 370 seats and the ruling NDA will cross 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls as he tore into the Congress, saying its “shop” is on the verge of closure

In his reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha, he said his government in its third term will take “very big” decisions and lay a strong foundation for the India of next 1,000 years while the opposition has made up its mind to remain in the opposition with reduced numbers.

On January 27, Stalin left for Spain to attract investments to the state. He arrived here on Wednesday morning.