Send culprits to jail, clean the Yamuna: UP minister

Senior Samajwadi Party leader and public works department (PWD) and irrigation minister Shivpal Yadav on Thursday told the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration to launch a demolition drive in the floodplains of Yamuna and Hindon and clear all encroachments at the earliest.

Senior Samajwadi Party leader and public works department (PWD) and irrigation minister Shivpal Yadav on Thursday told the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration to launch a demolition drive in the floodplains of Yamuna and Hindon and clear all encroachments at the earliest.

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“Lodge FIRs, send culprits to jail… do whatever you can do but clear the floodplains,” said Yadav. The irrigation minister, who met officials at a guesthouse here, also issued directions for cleaning of the Yamuna.

The district administration in February began a demolition drive but suspended it within a few days citing deployment of forces for the assembly elections as a reason. But the work was never resumed.

In the floodplains of Yamuna and Hindon, several groups have usurped vast tracts of the ecologically sensitive belt, leading to sale of illegal plots and coming up of farmhouses.