RAWALPINDI, Aug 24: A Pakistan Railways anti-encroachment team on Saturday removed a katchi abadi near Marir Chowk but received strong resistance from the slum dwellers at the Railway Road.

The team removed 10 houses along the railway lines near Marir Chowk.

However, it received a setback when the slum dwellers at Railway Road refused to vacate the railway land and staged a protest.

The slum dwellers have been dwelling adjacent to Poori Pull and Nullah Leh for last two years.

On the resistance of the dwellers, the railway police tried to arrest some of them but their colleagues blocked the road in protest.

Besides, women and children of the area didn’t allow the police to arrest their male family members.

“We have been living here for the last many years and the railway officials tried to dislocate us. We have no other place to go,” said Mohammad Anwar, a resident of the katchi abadi.

Fareed Ahmed, another slum dweller, said it was not the railway land and “we have constructed houses on the bank of the Leh Nullah.”

On the other hand, the railway authorities claimed that the slum dwellers had encroached on the land owned by the Pakistan Railways.

“We have asked the slum dwellers to move to another place otherwise a grand operation will be launched against them,” said an official.

He added that the residents of the railway colony had complained about the illegal activities by the slums dwellers.