Law is Enforced
35 days had elapsed from the date of proclamation of the Emergency. The President decided that time had come to enforce the rule of law. He felt that, first the leaders must be made to follow the law . The rest would follow suit. He called his Advisor for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Cabinet Secretary, the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Delhi Police and told them that all Government accommodation which is in unauthorized occupation will be got vacated within 7 days starting the next day. First the houses unauthorizedly occupied by ministers and MPs will be cleared. The eviction will be carried out by the Army. Twenty eviction squads will be created. Each eviction squad will consist of twenty soldiers, five policemen and five police women and three vehicles for transportation of luggage and a video recording team. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will issue twenty eviction orders daily and hand these over to the officer nominated by the Chief of Army Staff. The personnel staying in the house will be removed by the police personnel. Thereafter, the Army men would remove all the moveable objects in the house and dump the same on the parade ground at Delhi Cantonment. The owners will remove their baggage from the parade ground at their own convenience and at their own cost. The owners would be responsible for the security of their belongings. The vacant house would be looked after by a police picket till it was taken over by the ministry. The media would be informed of the action being taken the previous day. The inmates were to be treated with courtesy but firmness. Persons resisting would be bodily evicted. The Chief Ministers of the States were asked to take similar action and report eviction of all unauthorized occupants of Government accommodation failing which their Governments would be dismissed.
Only about 20 percent of the Government accommodation had been vacated as directed by the President. The others were too used to be treated differently or too busy with their political agenda to pay heed. Some of them were horrified to find the eviction party at their doors at 9 AM. They pleaded for more time but to no avail. One by one the occupants were forced out and the moveable property taken away. One MP got violent and broke the window panes of the house. He was promptly arrested for crimes against the state. One MP and his personal bodyguard brandished weapons and forced the eviction party out of the premises. The party commander reported the matter to his superiors. Soon a truck load of armed soldiers arrived. Force was met with force. The MP and his guard were arrested for interfering with the execution of duty by a Government servant. By evening, all the twenty houses had been vacated. Much of the event was recorded by the media on video and shown during the news broadcasts. The news papers were full of the details.
A new sense of urgency dawned on the others. By the third day all unauthorized occupants had vacated Government accommodation.
The President next turned to theft of electric power. He called the Chief of Army Staff and the heads of the electricity boards to form teams to check if there was any theft of electric power. The teams began to go around various industries, shops and houses. Hundreds of unauthorized connections were detected. The managing directors and proprietors of the various industries and business establishments were arrested for crimes against the state. A number of electricity board officials were also arrested and dismissed. The electrical load of the premises was worked out. Bills for 5 years consumption were worked out and recovered. The message was loud and clear. Overnight meters were installed and proper billing commenced.
Eviction of encroachments on Government land also commenced. Armed teams of police and army dozers cleared encroachments along the railway tracks and roads. In Mumbai alone about a Lakh of people were rendered homeless. Life in the slums was greatly disturbed. Domestic servants became non available in certain areas. Business and industries suffered as the workers did not report. The misery of the people was obvious and covered by the media. Many organizations appealed to the President to stay the demolitions. The President agreed to defer the demolitions by a month. But he was adamant. The rule of law was to be obeyed. Either the State Governments were going to make alternative arrangements or the people would have to go back to the villages. If people wanted domestic servants, they would have to provide accommodation for them. If business establishments or industries wanted labor, they would have to provide accommodation. Indiscriminate encroachment of Government land was just not acceptable.
Teams were formed to identify unauthorized construction. Some of these had already been identified. Now action was initiated against the builders and developers as per the Ordinance on the subject. Payment notices were served and money was recovered from the builder developers. Many municipal employees dealing with sanctions of such structures lost their jobs. Some landed in jails.
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