Uttar Pradesh power minister A.K. Sharma addresses the press in Siddharthnagar. Photo: X/@aksharmaBharat.

By Omar Rashid

New Delhi: Days after the Supreme Court proposed issuing pan-India guidelines for the demolition of property by governments, a senior minister in Uttar Pradesh who is a former trusted bureaucrat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Thursday (September 5) that the use of bulldozers would continue in the state.

A.K Sharma, UP’s power minister, justified and defended the use of bulldozers by the state government, saying it was an instrument used by chief minister Yogi Adityanath to wipe out goondaism and “mafia raj” just like Modi was tackling corruption at the national level.

“The bulldozer is being used for that and it is a good thing,” Sharma told journalists in Siddharthnagar in eastern UP.

The bureaucrat-turned-politician from Mau also said that the government would not stop its use of bulldozers.

“The bulldozer is being used against those involved in criminal and mafia activities through a legal process. There is nothing wrong here. Their use will continue,” said Sharma.

This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.