Finally, LDA decides to go by book

HERE?S A piece of bad news for those who had grabbed flats in Nehru Enclave colony in the hope that they would arm-twist LDA into regularising their allotment on the basis of their political clout.

HERE’S A piece of bad news for those who had grabbed flats in Nehru Enclave colony in the hope that they would arm-twist LDA into regularising their allotment on the basis of their political clout.

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In a bid to extricate itself out of the Enclave imbroglio, the LDA has decided to refund the money deposited by all such influential illegal occupants and make fresh allotments only after a thorough probe into the alleged inconsistencies in the housing scheme.

“I have asked executive engineer RK Jaiswal to go through all the allotments and other records of the housing scheme with a fine tooth comb and submit a report to me within three days,” said LDA Vice Chairman BB Singh. He said the bank drafts of 43 applicants, who had applied under the scheme, were being sent back to them by the LDA.

The decision dashes the hopes of the likes of Ram Singh Rana, former general secretary of Lucknow University Students’ Union, who having grabbed a flat in the Rupayan block of the Enclave only recently deposited Rs 1.60 lakh for getting the property allotted in his name. “Forget regularizing the illegal occupants, the LDA would be serving notices to the defaulters as well, no matter how big or powerful they might be, once the inquiry is complete,” said Singh. He said the allotment of defaulters too would be cancelled if they fail to clear their dues within the stipulated time.

“Application forms would now be available from August 17 till August 31 in the form of a booklet that would carry the details of the number and type of vacant flats in the colony,” said the LDA VC.

According to sources, the Enclave comprising a total number of 804 flats has 119 defaulters, who owe a whopping Rs 5.70 crore (and this is just the principal amount) to the LDA. Out of these 39 allottees have paid up some money in installments against their dues.

On May 13, Hindustan Times had published the names of these influential defaulters including some engineers and staff of LDA’s property section. But with the exception of a few, none of those whose names figured in the list have so far bothered to clear their dues. The maximum number of defaulters, according to sources, live in the expensive Rupayan block of the Enclave followed by 11 in Vatayan, 34 in Pushpayan and 30 in Premayan category flats.