Ghaziabad civic body set to geo-tag all its properties to prevent encroachment

The development came after a committee of officials identified nine persons who allegedly encroached and sold a land meant for the first political training institute in Uttar Pradesh

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation (GMC) has decided to geo-tag all its properties to prevent encroachments, officials said on Thursday.

In the past one year, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation has freed nearly 57 hectares of government land at different locations in Raj Nagar Extension, Crossings Republik, and Vijay Nagar, valued around ₹1,700 crore. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The development comes after a committee of officials identified nine persons, who allegedly encroached and sold land meant for the first political training institute in Uttar Pradesh to the poor people. The institute was proposed to come up over a corporation land -- over an area of nearly 3.03 hectares -- adjacent to the Raj Nagar Extension road. Out of the total 3.03 hectares, 1.37 hectares was encroached and houses were constructed there.

A proposal for the institute, with an estimated cost of ₹168 crore, was cleared by the Uttar Pradesh state cabinet in October 2018.

In October 2020, the GMC got the encroachment removed, with nearly 14 houses constructed on the land meant for the proposed institute. Overall, the GMC officials said, 101 people constructed houses in a locality -- Shanti Nagar -- over the government land.

Later, a committee was constituted and it was found that some nine persons had grabbed the government land worth ₹3.51 crore and later sold it to some poor people. The inquiry committee also got access to sale deeds and other documents which were provided to them by the occupants of the houses.

“We have initiated proceedings to debar the illegal occupants from the government land. The cost of the land will be recovered from the properties of identified people who sold the government land. We have initiated proceedings to lodge an FIR, and will also be recommended for action under the Gangster Act,” said MS Tanwar, commissioner of GMC.

The suspects have been identified as Om Tyagi, Indu Tyagi, Suraj Paswan, Rajnish Chaudhary, Brijesh Tyagi, Babita Tyagi, Mahesh Sharma, Ajit Singh and late Inder Pal.

The GMC officials, meanwhile, said that they are developing a system to geo-tag lands to identify those easily. “With geo-tagging, we will get information about encroachment of our land. We will introduce this system soon to protect government lands from encroachments. In the past one year, we have freed nearly 57 hectares of government land at different locations in Raj Nagar Extension, Crossings Republik, and Vijay Nagar, valued around ₹1,700 crore,” Tanwar added.

The political training institute is proposed to be constructed by the Construction & Design Services, a unit of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, and part of the project was approved by the Uttar Pradesh housing department. The facility will train and impart education to politicians and activists.