The residents of Baliapatna basti lodged an FIR at the Mancheswar police station on Saturday against a few unknown assailants who had threatened and warned them on Friday night to keep off from a land controversy in their locality.
Residents of Baliapatna have been protesting construction of the boundary by a private school in their locality for quite sometime. Modern School, located in GGP Colony, had constructed a boundary on the land leased to them by the General Administration (GA) Department.
According to the basti residents, the construction of the boundary has reduced a width of a natural drain that was passing near the Pandra road. The drain carried waste water from Rasulgarh, Bomikhal and near by areas.
With the width of the drain decreasing, the risk of the basti flooding during the monsoon has increased. “During monsoon the complete basti will be submerged under waist-high drain water. We do not understand how the GA Department leased that part of the land for the school’s use,” exclaimed one of the basti residents. A few of the basti residents have been arrested in the past after someone damaged the boundary.
Things deteriorated on Friday when unknown assailants on two bikes threatened the basti residents not to interfere in the school’s matter. The police have started an investigation to find out the culprits.