12 identified for encroaching ATS, election office land; set to be declared land mafia

he encroached land included a plot earmarked for the construction of an ATS police station near Bamrauli Airport while an adjoining plot was allocated for the Election Office.

The Anti-Land Mafia Task Force has compiled a list of 12 individuals accused of encroaching on land belonging to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the election office in Prayagraj. The administration has already reclaimed the occupied land and registered cases against all the accused. These individuals—who had allegedly taken over government land along the Airport Road—are now set to be officially declared land mafia by the district police.

The encroached area (For representation only)

The task force has forwarded the list to senior police officials for the next round of action. The encroached land included a plot earmarked for the construction of an ATS police station near Bamrauli Airport while an adjoining plot was allocated for the Election Office.

Over time, land grabbers had illegally occupied portions of these sites. Acting on reports of encroachments in Rasulpur, Mariyadih Uparhar, Kashipur Uparhar, Ponghat (Bamrauli) and Gyasuddinpur Uparhar areas, the administration began identifying those responsible.

Last year, authorities successfully freed the land and lodged FIRs against all the accused. Subsequently, district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma formed a dedicated Anti-Land Mafia Task Force to examine the matter in detail. The committee included SDM (Sadar) Abhishek Kumar Singh, ACP (Dhoomanganj) Ajendra Yadav, Tehsildar (Sadar) Anil Pathak, Dhoomanganj SHO Rajesh Upadhyay, assistant engineer from Irrigation and the assistant engineer from the public works department. In its recent meeting, the task force scrutinised each case and identified 12 individuals involved in encroaching on land belonging to two separate government departments.