Lakhipur Tea Estate manager arrested for demolishing PMAY house

A CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: The manager of Lakhipur Tea Estate and two others, including the deputy manager, were arrested for allegedly demolishing an under-construction house under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) of two garden labourers. Nirmalendu Chakraborty, the manager, his deputy manager Shyamapada Baidya and the driver of the excavator, Rajen Bawri were arrested on Sunday and later sent to Silchar Central Jail.

Local residents informed that Saraswati Ree and her son Ravi, both tea garden labourers, were constructing a house under PMAY at Ashralabuk village under Lakhipur TE. Chakraborty had asked them to stop the construction as they had no NOC from the garden authority. But Saraswati and Ravi said that since Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had already announced that no NOC was required for PMAY, they had not applied for the same.

However, Chakraborty ruled out their argument and allegedly asked them to pay Rs 50,000 as penalty. The amount was too high for the labourers but later they agreed to pay Rs 10,000. Chakraborty gave them eight days for the payment. But after two days, on Saturday, Chakrabarty and Baidya appeared in the village along with an excavator and asked Rajen Bawri, the driver, to demolish the under-construction house.

The incident created ripples in the garden and on Sunday, Sudip Nath, Lakhipur Circle Officer, along with officials from the Labour department, visited the garden and later filed a complaint against Chakraborty, Baidya and Bawri. Police arrested them and later produced them in court. The court sent them to judicial custody.

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