PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Haldwani The Supreme Court has stated that there is no dispute that the land in Vanbhulpura belongs to the State and that the State can decide how best to utilise it, adding that the issue now is of rehabilitation. Delivering an interim order on Tuesday while hearing the matter of about 29 acres land of the Railway encroached upon by 4,365 families in Vanbhulpura area of Haldwani in Nainital district, the court directed the Nainital district magistrate and Haldwani Revenue officials to provide application forms of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to the residents in question. The member secretary of the State Legal Services Authority was directed to organise a rehabilitation camp in the area and ensure that the head of each family affected is convinced to apply under the scheme. These tasks will begin after March 19 and the report will be submitted in the court. The bench headed by the chief justice of India, Surya Kant said that some practical solution should be reached before March 31 and that the camps should be held till all the affected families apply for rehabilitation. Some counsellors, social activists and domain experts should also be deputed to explain the benefits of PMAY to the people, the court said. Justice Joymala Bagchi stated, “Our prima facie view is that it is more of a help and less of a right”. The CJI observed, “Why to insist for them to stay there only when there can be another place with better amenities. For any ambitious project there is vacant space needed on both sides. The people staying there cannot dictate where the railway should lay the line etc”. The court stated that it is important that the livelihoods of the petitioners are not affected, considering which they should apply under the PMAY. The matter is expected to be taken up for hearing next after March 31. It is pertinent to mention here that the encroachment on railway land by more than 4,365 families in the Vanbhulpura has been a contentious issue for some years now. Considering the sensitive nature of the issue, the district police have already stepped up security and vigilance in the area and other parts of the city.
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