Several policemen and women protesters were injured when the police used force to control residents of Bindukhatta village near Haldwani when they attacked the caravan of state Labour Minister Harish Durgapal here today. The minister had come to inaugurate the municipal area office of Bindukhatta. The villagers shouted slogans demanding the revenue village status for Bindukhatta instead of the municipal area status.

According to reports, a large number of residents of Bindukhatta village near Haldwani in Nainital district today opposed the programme of Labour Minister Harish Durgapal, who had come to inaugurate the municipal area office in the locality. “Those who are in favour of the municipal area status for the village are contractors and power brokers who are deceiving local farmers,” said Pan Singh Koranga, a local resident.

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Bindukahtta villagers said they were not in a position to pay taxes if the village was made an urban body. The nature of their land would get converted to Nazul land and they would have to pay a heavy amount of money to own the land that they had obtained through a long struggle for 40 years. “We had started opposing the urban body status for Bindukhatta on December 12, 2014, when the government issued a notification to make it a municipal area,” said Sharma.