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Urdu gate of Jauhar University razed; Azam cries foul
Officials of the Rampur district administration demolished the Urdu gate of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar University triggering a sharp response from the university’s founder and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.
Officials of the Rampur district administration on Wednesday demolished the Urdu gate of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar University triggering a sharp response from the university’s founder and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.
While Khan alleged that the gate was demolished because it had Urdu written on it, Rampur district magistrate AK Singh said the action was taken as the structure was illegal.
“This gate was demolished simply because it had Urdu written on it. I had told the officials that if Urdu was the cause of discontent among BJP leaders, they should consider renaming the gate as RSS gate or Hindu gate,” Khan said.
Refuting Khan’s allegations, the Rampur DM said: “It was a low level gate that obstructed movement of heavy vehicles. Besides, it was built on the road maintained by the public works department (PWD) without taking necessary clearance.”
The action was taken following a complaint by BJP leader Akash Saxena.
The PWD, headed by UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, had set up an inquiry which found the structure to be illegal.
The gate was constructed in 2015 during the Samajwadi Party regime by the construction and design services (C&DS) of the Jal Nigam at a cost of ₹40 lakh without obtaining the mandatory “no objection certificate”.
C&DS comes under the urban development ministry which was headed by Azam Khan during the time of construction.
UP BJP leader and in-charge of Rampur Chandramohan said: “There was complete jungle raj during the SP rule and this is another proof. There is no vendetta in demolition of the structure. We would urge the district administration to act without fear or favour against all those who have broken the law.”
PWD’s superintending engineer Sanjeev Kumar Verma said, “The height of the gate was just 2.9 metres when it should ideally have been 4.5 metres. This is against norms and was obstructing traffic movement.”
The DM said he had written to the state government to consider disciplinary action against officials who had given their nod to the illegal construction.
“The state government can even seek recovery of funds as the amount spent on construction of the gate was public money,” he said.
