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Bulldozers roar on Lucknow’s Prag Narain Road, illegal building demolished
According to LDA officials, a construction firm had constructed the illegal building on 2,800 sq mt area on nazul land; builder was served show-cause notice a number of times
LUCKNOW Lucknow Development Authority’s (LDA) bulldozers demolished an illegal residential building on Prag Narain road on Wednesday as part of the ongoing drive to free government land from encroachers.
According to LDA officials, a construction firm had constructed the illegal building on 2,800 sq mt area on nazul land. The builder had been served show-cause notice a number of times for his illegal construction activities under Sections 27(1), 28(1) and 28(2) of the Uttar Pradesh Town Planning and Development Act 1973. He was given ample time to reply to the notices.
But the builder did not respond to the notices and also continued with the construction work at the site without any approved map, stated LDA secretary Pawan Gangwar. Subsequently, demolition orders were passed on September 6, 2016 under Section 27(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Town Planning and Development Act, 1973 (amended in 1997).
After this, the builder filed an appeal before the commissioner’s court under the Mitigation Scheme, 2020. During the hearing, he was given sufficient time to present his case. But no concrete records were produced. Therefore, his appeal was dismissed by the commissioner’s court on February 17 this year.
On Wednesday, the exercise to raze the illegal construction began around 11:30am when the LDA’s demolition squad swung into action after getting police back-up. Officials said the demolition orders were issued by LDA vice-chairman Akshay Tripathi.
During the day, the demolition squad also removed encroachments from Chowk. District magistrate Abhishek Prakash said the anti-encroachment drive had been launched to free land from the clutches of land sharks.
In the anti-encroachment drive so far, around 12 bighas of land worth ₹7.84 crore had been made encroachment free. Prior to this, the administration had carried out a demolition drive in Mohanlalganj, where illegal construction worth ₹1.8 crore was freed from land mafias.
