New Delhi: From the high of guiding Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh to bronze medals at the Paris Olympics, India’s national pistol coach Samaresh Jung has experienced a personal low.
Jung returned to India a day ago to that the house where his family has lived for 75 years was marked for demolition.
A demolition notice has been issued, and Jung’s family has been asked to vacate the house in Delhi within two days by the Land and Development office, citing that the land belongs to the Ministry of Defence.
Jung, who coached Olympic bronze medalist Manu Bhaker, told NDTV that he returned to India yesterday to discover that his home for the last 75 years was marked for demolition.
“After the euphoria of Indian shooters winning two Olympic medals, I the team coach just returned home from the Olympics to the disheartening news that my house and locality is to be demolished in 2 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,” Jung posted on X.
There has been a legal battle between residents of Khyber Pass colony in Civil Lines and the Ministry of Defence.
On July 9, Delhi High Court ruled that the area fell under the Defence ministry’s jurisdiction.
Jung told reporters that the exact area to be demolished had not been mentioned in the notice and the amount of time given to vacate the house was too little for people who had been living their for decades.
“There has been no proper information or notice. How can families living here for 75 years vacate in 2 days? Shockingly, the L&DO (Land & Development Office) makes a haphazard announcement of demolition with a notice of 2 days, without any clarity of the exact area to be demolished,” Jung said.
Jung, who claimed 7 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals in the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games, requested that he be allowed to make a “dignified exit” and appealed for two months’ time to vacate the property.
