New Delhi: A political row has erupted in Gujarat’s Surat after nearly 100 homes in a slum settlement were demolished in the presence of municipal officials and police personnel, with local authorities denying any role in the operation and leaving unanswered questions over who ordered the bulldozers into the area.The demolition in Nasirnagar, located in Surat’s Katargam area, has displaced dozens of families and prompted demands for an inquiry after the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) said it had issued no demolition order and maintained that it was not responsible for the clearance drive.The controversy intensified after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vinu Mordia publicly questioned the circumstances surrounding the demolition and sought explanations from civic authorities.“The information provided by the officials is shocking. The municipal team had gone there only for legal line drawing and road margin measurements. No demolition order was issued, no official action was sanctioned and there is no record of such a drive in the municipal files,” Mordia said, as quoted by The New Indian Express.According to reports in The New Indian Express and The Times of India, bulldozers razed nearly 100 houses in the settlement while municipal officials and police personnel were present at the site on Jun 30.Mordia said he had also spoken to municipal commissioner M. Nagarajan and was informed that the civic body had not authorised any demolition.“I spoke to the municipal commissioner, and he confirmed that no demolition order was given by SMC. I have sought clarity on who carried out the demolition. Since no one other than SMC has the authority to demolish homes, this raises a serious question of law being taken into one’s own hands,” he said, as per The Times of India.As per the newspaper, the incident has come to be described locally as a “ghost demolition”, with no government department accepting responsibility for the operation.The Municipal Commissioner confirmed that municipal officials had visited the site only for a demarcation exercise related to a long-pending land matter.“During that time, some structures were demolished by another party. The land belongs to a private entity, and they may have deployed machinery. The SMC has no role in the demolition,” Nagarajan said.SMC Standing Committee chairman Rajan Patel also denied municipal involvement and said senior officials had been asked to investigate the matter. “We have ordered a detailed inquiry by senior officials to determine who carried out the demolition,” he saidResidents, however, have questioned the role of the police and municipal personnel who were present during the demolition.According to The New Indian Express, local resident Javid Shah alleged that officers remained at the site as homes were being torn down.“When the JCB claws were tearing through houses and women and children were crying to save their homes, policemen in uniform were standing there. If this demolition was illegal, why did the police not ask for a demolition order or a magistrate’s permission?” Shah said.