Five arrested for illegal construction in Greater Noida, premises sealed

Greater Noida: The Bisrakh police in Greater Noida arrested five persons on Wednesday for allegedly developing an illegal structure in Shahberi, and also sealed the premises

Greater Noida: The Bisrakh police in Greater Noida arrested five persons on Wednesday for allegedly developing an illegal structure in Shahberi, and also sealed the premises. Despite a court’s stay order, the suspects were developing a housing project in the area.

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The complainant — Manoj Kumar Tomar, a head constable — said he had got a tip-off that some people were illegally digging the plot for the construction of a housing project. “When I visited the construction site, I saw that five persons — Vijendra Chaudhury, Sunil Tewatiya, Omvir Singh, Vinod Kumar and Bhola Prasad — were working on the housing project. We stopped the construction work, sealed the premises and seized the construction materials,” Kumar said.

The Noida police had developed a police check post in Shahberi in November 2019, according to Anita Chauhan, SHO, Bisrakh police station. “It was also developed to keep illegal construction in check. The police team got a tip-off on Wednesday and conducted a search operation. Five persons were arrested from the spot and booked under IPC sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant), and 447 (criminal trespass),” Chauhan said, adding that the arrested men were produced before a court, and sent to jail.

On July 17, 2018, nine persons were killed when a twin building collapsed in the Shahberi village. The 47-year-old developer, Shahabudin Khan, had constructed the building without a layout plan approval from the Greater Noida authority. The accused had used bad quality construction material, which led to the incident, according to officials. So far, the police have registered FIRs against 181 developers, and arrested 50 of them in a crackdown.

The Greater Noida authority had started the Shahberi land acquisition in 1994. It had acquired around 155 hectares by 2009, however, a group of farmers filed a writ petition, and the court stayed the land acquisition in 2011. The authority started land acquisition again in 2013, but the Allahabad High Court issued another stay order in 2014, directing the authority to maintain a status quo. However, rampant illegal construction was seen in 2017 and 2018, when the building collapsed. The Greater Noida authority estimated that there are around 1,453 illegal buildings in Shahberi.