Congress MP Questions Demolition of 86 Houses in Uttarakhand’s Ramnagar

Ramnagar: Congress MP Mohammad Jawed has questioned the demolition of 86 houses in a Muslim settlement in the Puchhadi area of Ramnagar in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district, asking whether only Muslim homes are being treated as illegal across the country.

“The question is why action against encroachments on government land is not uniform for everyone. The law should be equal for all and should not become a means of targeting any particular community,” he said.

The district administration stated that the structures had been built on government forest land and were being removed as part of an ongoing drive to clear encroachments.

Initially, the administration and Forest Department had planned to demolish 83 houses. The operation was conducted under heavy security, with more than 1,200 police and forest personnel deployed along with 28 JCB excavators.

Puneet Kumar Tomar, Divisional Forest Officer of the Terai Western Forest Division, said notices had been issued to 92 people during the second phase of the operation. However, nine structures were excluded because their cases were pending before a court.

The Forest Department had earlier carried out a demolition drive in the same area on December 7, 2025, when 51 houses and huts were reportedly demolished. During that operation, around two acres of land belonging to Ramnagar Municipality’s trenching ground were also cleared.

The affected settlement is located along the Kosi River in Puchhadi. Reports stated that approximately 14 hectares of forest land were cleared during the operations.

Following the latest demolition drive, Nainital Police said in a post on X that the operation was carried out in accordance with the directions of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The police described it as a joint operation by the administration and police to remove encroachments from government land. The statement also referred to taking “effective action on demographic changes”.

As the administration arrived with heavy machinery on Saturday, several residents reportedly began dismantling their houses themselves. Authorities divided the area into multiple security zones and sectors to maintain law and order during the operation.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had earlier defended bulldozer action against what he described as religious encroachments, referring to them as “land jihad”. He had also promised strict action against those he accused of polluting Uttarakhand’s holy land.