Ghaziabad panel wants to relocate 55 houses on floodplains

About a fortnight ago, the district magistrate (DM) formed a committee of officials to inquire about the households built in the river’s floodplains

Ghaziabad: A committee of Ghaziabad district officials has found that 55 households located in floodplains of the Yamuna River near Loni’s Badarpur village, have been affected by seasonal flooding for the past couple of years.

There is a very fine line to differentiate between the borders of Delhi and Ghaziabad in the river floodplain, and all 55 households affected due to flooding, will be relocated under the Ghaziabad district jurisdiction. (HT Archives)

The river flows through villages like Badarpur Khadar, Pychara, Nauraspur, Alipur, Mirpur Hindu, Lutfullapur Nawada, Khanpur Japti, Harampur, and Ilaichipur, among others, in Ghaziabad and has often seen rising water levels during the monsoon.

About a fortnight ago, the district magistrate (DM) formed a committee of officials to inquire about the households built in the river’s floodplains, officials said on Tuesday.

“We found 55 such households. The report is almost finalised and it will be submitted to the DM in a couple of days,” said the committees’ nodal officer and additional district magistrate (ADM) Saurabh Bhatt, adding that they have also chalked out a plan under which the families from these houses will be relocated on the land behind Alipur embankment.

“This will ensure safety of these families. Under the relocation plan, we may offer these families houses under the PM Awas Yojana, or we may also offer them land deeds to get the ownership of the government land. Such lands are given free of cost to the poor. The next action will be on people who take up plotting in riverbeds. We will act strictly against such persons and will declare them land mafia,” the ADM added.

Once the final report is sent to the DM, the relocation plan will be chalked out, Bhatt said.

Officials said that the majority of the 55 households are from Badarpur village, which is part in Delhi and part in Ghaziabad district jurisdiction.

There is a very fine line to differentiate between the borders of Delhi and Ghaziabad in the river floodplain, and all 55 households affected due to flooding, will be relocated under the Ghaziabad district jurisdiction, they added.

According to the UP irrigation department statistics, the highest flood level (HFL) at Loni was 211.4 metres recorded in 2013 while it further increased to 212.15 metres in 2023.

This year too, the HFL reached 211 metres on September 2 amid recurrent rains and release of excess water from the Hathnikund barrage.