Meerut, Feb. 9 -- As many as 50 families who had allegedly been living illegally at a locality in Sambhal's Chandausi town for the last 15 years were evicted from their houses on Sunday. The locality was developed as part of a government housing scheme, officials said.

The eviction drive at Kashiram Residential Colony in the town's Lakshmanganj area was jointly conducted by the Chandausi municipal council and the local administration in the presence of police and RRF personnel.

The council's executive officer Ram Dharmraj Singh, accompanied by a naib tehsildar, reached the spot to oversee the action. The drive continued for nearly three hours, during which 12 houses in one block of the colony were vacated.

After the houses were cleared...