Heavy police and drone teams have been deployed in Haldwani's Banbhoolpura area ahead of an anticipated Supreme Court verdict concerning alleged encroachment on 29 hectares of Railway land. The deployment is a precautionary measure given past unrest during demolition drives, with authorities appealing for peace and warning against rumour-mongering.
A curfew was imposed in Haldwani on Thursday after local residents set vehicles and a police station on fire and hurled stones, injuring more than 60 people, over the demolition of an 'illegally built' madrasa and an adjoining mosque, officials said.
The curfew was imposed and the administration issued shoot-at-sight orders after stone-pelting incidents, torching of vehicles and a mob surrounded the local police station following the anti-encroachment drive.
Lifting the suspension of internet services in violence affected Haldwani, Nainital police on Sunday warned of stringent action against miscreants who try to disrupt communal harmony by posting any provocative photo, comment, etc., on social media.
Dhami said several acres of land were freed from encroachment during the demolition drive in the 'Malik Ka Bagicha' area of Banbhoolpura.
Six rioters were killed in the violence that broke out over the demolition of an illegally built madrasa, officials said Friday as curfew remained enforced in Uttarakhand's Haldwani town.
The three FIRs were registered on Friday, and police stressed that there was no fresh violence and that the situation was under control.
According to the notice, Malik's supporters attacked the team that had gone to carry out the demolition drive in 'Malik Ka Bagicha' and damaged the properties of the municipal corporation.
With the fresh arrests, the total number of rioters held in connection with incidents of stone pelting and arson triggered by the demolition of a madrassa in the town on February 8 has climbed to 42, they said.
In a relief to thousands of people facing imminent threat of demolition of their houses in winter, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Uttarakhand high court order for removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land claimed by the railways in Haldwani, terming it a 'human issue' and saying 50,000 people cannot be uprooted overnight.
In a relief to 4,000 families facing imminent threat of demolition of their houses in a bitterly cold winter, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Uttarakhand high court order for removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land claimed by the railways in Haldwani, terming it a 'human issue' and saying 50,000 people cannot be uprooted overnight.
'There is something in our desh ki mitti that has held us together.'
'So many conquerors, colonisers, cultures came and went, but we withstood them and rose up again.'
The water level of the Yamuna in Delhi, which has been hovering around the danger mark of 205.33 metres for the last few days, dropped below the threshold again on Saturday morning.
