A complicated issue though is construction of dwellings on the circular railway track. They have to be removed for the revival of train traffic. But the ongoing demolition drive, seen on TV screens, evokes public sympathies as the affectees claiming to be poor people with nowhere to go demand the government provide them with alternative accommodation. However, it is a fact that most of such illegal colonies are owned by single persons and are rented out, hence there is no justification whatsoever to regularize them and reward violators with public property. More to the point, those who occupied railway lands did that knowingly and hence do not deserve to be provided with alternative housing at government expense. Nonetheless, this would not have happened had the authorities concerned taken notice of the illegitimate activity and stopped it in its tracks. Failure to take timey action may have encouraged many unsuspecting families to use their meagre resources to construct their homes on abandoned railway tracks. They need to be heard and given sympathetic consideration on case by case basis.