Ghaziabad DM asks officials to crack down harder on land mafia

A majority of the land encroached upon in district belongs to the Ghaziabad development authority

Nine land grabbers were on Tuesday booked under the Gangster Act. On the strength of a police report, Ghaziabad district magistrate Ministhy S ordered the application of the Gangster Act against them.

Around 317 hectares has been illegally encroached upon, with most of this land belonging to the GDA. (Sakib Ali/HT File Photo)

In March 2016, these men, equipped with two bulldozers, attempted to grab some land situated in Budh Vihar in Ghaziabad. “This is an effective preventive measure to lock up the land grabbers in jail so that law and order is maintained in the state,” superintendent of police Akash Tomar said.

Ghaziabad district officials have identified 317 hectares illegally occupied and encroached upon. This land falls under the jurisdiction of various tehsils, municipal corporations, nagar palikas and agencies such as the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA), Avas Vikas Parishad and UP state industrial development corporation, among others.

However, according to official records, around 45 hectares of encroached land has been freed till date and around 5,086 encroachers identified. A survey of all encroachments was conducted after the Uttar Pradesh government asked for strict action against land mafia and also ordered the formation of an ‘anti-land mafia task force’ to free up land.

According to official records, a majority of the 317 hectares encroached upon belongs to the GDA and nearly 54.318 hectares is encroached upon or occupied by settlements and various kinds of constructions. Apart from the GDA, around 65.48 hectares are encroached upon in Loni, Ghaziabad and Modi Nagar tehsils. Around 31.51 hectares of municipal corporation land has been encroached upon while around 39.96 hectares of the nagar palika of Niwari has been encroached upon.

“The major issue is encroachment where settlements have come up and land has been sold to people who have constructed houses. In rural areas, the lekhpal, who is the secretary of the land management committee, will issue notices to occupants under the Revenue Act while government agencies will initiate action under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act,” Singh said.

During a review meeting held on Tuesday, the DM asked officials to get government land freed in a time-bound manner otherwise FIRs will be registered against the officials concerned as well. So far, the district administration has identified around 2,748 encroachers who have encroached upon nearly 223.27 hectares belonging to various gram sabhas. In this connection, 113 cases have been filed under the Revenue Act and 175 FIRs have been filed after freeing up 33.84 hectares.