Bhopal, May 21 (IANS): At least 15 municipal officials, out to demolish illegal floors of a club, were injured when residents of a nearby building attacked them, fearing their houses were being targeted, in the Madhya Pradesh capital Saturday, police said. Two illegal floors of the club were later demolished.
Officials of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and district administration were to demolish the illegal structure of a club in J.K. Road area but the residents of the adjacent building thought their houses were about to be pulled down.
"Town Inspector Kuber Singh and 14 other staffers were injured in the incident," Superintendent of Police Yogesh Choudhary told IANS.
Local residents claimed that at least a dozen people were injured when municipal officials and police attacked them. They also alleged that police arrested some residents too and misbehaved with women. Some passers-by also were beaten up by police, they added.
The residents were panicky as the administration had demolished a part of a mall in the same area earlier this month.
The residents pelted stones at the demolition team, vandalised vehicles, and also tried to set ablaze an excavator-bulldozer machine.
The police used tear gas and conducted a lathi charge to disperse the mob.
Bhopal District Collector Nikunj Srivastava clarified that the encroachment drive was not against residential buildings but the club in the area. "The drive is against illegal construction work of a builder and not against residents. The administration is with residents," he said.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh reached the spot and began a sit-in along with local residents and those who had been beaten by police. "I ended my dharna (sit-in) after almost four hours when administration assured me that no residential premises would be demolished in the drive," Singh told reporters.
However, officials said that the demolition drive would continue Sunday when two illegally constructed floors of another building in the area would be demolished.
Bollywood director Prakash Jha had shot a major part of his recent film "Aarakshan" in the same area. The sets of the movie were also demolished by the administration in the first phase of the drive.