National pistol shooting coach Samaresh Jung, who guided Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh to bronze medals at the Paris Olympics, returned to India yesterday only to discover that his family’s home of 75 years in Delhi was scheduled for demolition in two days.
“I returned last evening around 5 PM. And, around 6 PM, there was this announcement that the house was going to be demolished in two days and that we needed to vacate it,” Mr Jung told NDTV.
The notice was issued by the Land and Development Office (LNDO) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which claimed that the land on which the Khyber Pass colony in the Civil Lines area is located belongs to the Ministry of Defence and is therefore illegal.
He said that he had been paying the rent and taxes and didn’t understand how he was being labelled a squatter.
“They put up a notice in the other part of the locality. So, it (the notice) was basically for squatters. My family has been staying here for the past 75 years. I am paying rent, I am paying taxes. So, I don’t understand understand how we became squatters,” he said.
The Delhi High Court will hear the matter on Monday. “I am not above the law and I will vacate if this is what the law demands. But two days’ notice is not the way. At least give us a couple of months to move out,” he told NDTV,
The 54-year-old was nicknamed ‘goldfinger’ at the peak of his prowess after fetching an astonishing seven gold, five silver and two bronze medals in the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Pistol shooters have contributed two of India’s three medals in the ongoing Paris Games with Manu Bhaker winning the individual 10m air pistol bronze before combining with Sarabjot Singh to claim the mixed team third position.
