The furore over the eviction of an anganwadi worker and her one-year-old infant from their tarpaulin-roof house near Moodbidri refuses to die down and Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim, who visited the site on Saturday, said that though the eviction was “legal” there were “gaps that needed to be investigated.”
On the morning of March 11, 35-year-old Malathi Poojarthi and her child were thrown out “by force” from the two-cents of land at Moodukonaje near Moodbidri, while a posse of policemen and revenue officials blockaded the area.
While she claimed the land abuts her parent’s ancestral house, revenue officials were certain that it was government land.
Following protests and media coverage, the Assistant Commissioner was asked to submit a report.
“I have received the report. Prima facie, the eviction is legal as the construction had been new and on government land. During my visit, I noticed that it was only a shed where there was no cooking done. There were stones kept on the side indicating new construction. Her mother owns a concrete house nearby also,” said Mr. Ibrahim.
He said the Grama Panchayat resolutions had been “tampered with” and the door number allotted was not to this plot, but some other survey number.
“There are a lot of gaps as to how the door number was given. We will investigate into that and whether the police force was overused or politicisation of the action after the elections,” said the DC, responding to a query on the necessity of using a large police force for the eviction.
Mr. Ibrahim added Ms. Poojarthi had applied for allocation of a house on Saturday, and this would be looked at after the model code of conduct was withdrawn.
