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Parliament is to probe the recent demolition exercise carried out by the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), at Adjei Kojo near Tema, where over 200 properties were pulled down, rendering hundreds homeless. Consequently, Speaker Edward Doe Adjaho, has directed Parliament�s committee on Works and Housing and the Constitutional and Legal Committee to look into the issue and present a report to the House within one month. Mr Adjaho, who gave the directive on Thursday after the MP for Tema West, Mrs Irene Naa Torshie Addo made a statement on the floor of the House condemning that action by the TDC that was aided by the National Security. The Committee would look into how those whose properties were demolished acquired the lands, and why they were not prevented from developing on the land only for their properties to be pulled down after dwelling in them for many years. Naa Torshie Addo, whose condemnation of the demolition was supported by some lawmakers, said the TDC�s action was inhuman and irresponsible, because the consequence of that exercise was not taken into consideration. The Legislator claimed the TDC undertook the exercise without the requisite authorization, and had not notified the victims before their properties were destroyed. Most of the victims of the exercise are housed in tents provided by the national Disaster Management Organization. But the TDC in an encounter with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Works and Housing last Tuesday, said it was justified in carrying out the exercise and that it had given several notices to the victims on the intended demolition. The TDC told the Committee that prior to the demolition exercise, it had requested those who had legal titles to the portions they were developing, to present them for perusal, but the illegal developers could not present such documentation. The Committee's Vice Chairman, Mr Frank Adu-Blay Koffie, in an interview with the GNA said, the TDC had proven beyond reasonable doubt, with relevant documentation that the land belonged to the corporation, and that those properties that were demolished were developed illegally. He said the TDC insisted anyone claiming to have legal documents to land in that area was in possession of forged papers, and that several moves to stop the encroachment on the land were met with stiff resistance to the extent that some of the illegal developers hired land guards to brutalize TDC staff. The area in question is part of lands given to the TDC by government in 1952. The TDC undertook the demolition exercise last week in collaboration with the National Security, with the aim of halting all illegal developments of government lands under their jurisdiction and to reclaiming those lands. The action drew mixed reactions from the public and humanitarian organizations who insisted that the move was inhuman and catastrophic.