Escorted with a contingent of armed police personnel on Friday evening, the demolition squad of Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda), along with bulldozers, made an abrupt entry into the National Media Centre (NMC) locality on the expressway and razed its boundary wall to reclaim a green belt and pave way for the Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon project.
Caught unawares, local residents have termed the move “illegal” and have planned to launch a major agitation against Huda and Rapid Metro Rail Limited.
After being at loggerheads for several months, residents had moved court, but lost the legal battle after it refused to grant a stay against the authority’s move to reclaim the green belt.
The 326-metre-long and 50-metre-wide plot in question served as the green belt of the colony and was demarcated by constructing a boundary wall by the NMC Cooperative House Building Society, which claims it to be its property as per the revenue records.
The development authority, on the other hand, is legally bound to provide Right of Way for the intra-city Metro project, the country’s first, for erecting elevated tracks for its 6.1- kilometre long route.
“Huda officials, accompanied by a huge number of policemen and bulldozers, made a forced entry around 3.30pm on Friday from the rear side of the colony and razed the boundary wall. This illegal action came despite the fact that ownership of the land in the revenue records belongs to our society. We are deliberating an agitation against this move,” said Dr Kulwant Singh, general secretary, National Media Centre Cooperative House Building Society.
{{/usCountry}}“Huda officials, accompanied by a huge number of policemen and bulldozers, made a forced entry around 3.30pm on Friday from the rear side of the colony and razed the boundary wall. This illegal action came despite the fact that ownership of the land in the revenue records belongs to our society. We are deliberating an agitation against this move,” said Dr Kulwant Singh, general secretary, National Media Centre Cooperative House Building Society.
{{/usCountry}}On the other hand, Huda officials said green belts were meant for accommodating the utilities and civic amenities and therefore, its ownership did not belong to any individual or society.
“We have not done anything illegal but reclaimed our land, a portion of which has to be left for the Metro rail project. The society has already lost the case in court and therefore have no right to oppose,” an official said.
NMC is a gated community spread across 21 acres of land near DLF Cyber City and has 190 apartments housing top notch mediapersons, bureaucrats and professors.