Noida to raze illegal buildings on ‘enemy land’ abandoned after Partition
The inspection was carried out in villages of Barola, Salarpur, Bhangel and Hazipur village areas, where landowners have built shopping malls and houses without building map nod.
The Noida authority’s chief executive officer (CEO) Lokesh M and Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate (DM) Manish Kumar Verma along with other officials conducted inspections of areas where illegal buildings have been built and the CEO directed staff to prepare a strategy to raze such buildings, which lack approval from the authority.
The inspection was carried out in villages of Barola, Salarpur, Bhangel and Hazipur village areas, where landowners have built shopping malls and houses without building map nod.
Officials said a shopping mall has been built in Barola on “enemy property”, which is currently under the Union ministry of home affairs.
Land that was abandoned by the owners when they migrated to Pakistan during the Partition is called “enemy land”. The Centre is obligated to protect such properties from encroachment.
“We took the district magistrate along because of the illegal construction on land that is protected by the Union government. We have directed the staff to keep monitoring and discourage those who build structures without map approval. We will take action on a case-to-case basis,” said Lokesh M.
The inspection was carried out following directions from the state government that sought a report on the matter.
The authority also inspected Hazipur land that is part of Maharishi Ashram in Sector 104, where illegal housing and commercial buildings have come up.
“The Maharishi land is earmarked for recreational usage. Now the authority and administration will take a joint action as per the law. We are identifying people who are engaged in the work of encroaching on government land. We will declare them as land mafia,” said Lokesh M.
The Gautam Budh Nagar in February 2022 identified and demarcated around 25 bighas (15.4 acres) of enemy property in Noida’s Barola village. The property, valued at ₹200 crore and located on DSC Road, has been encroached upon by land mafia. The administration in 2022 engaged the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to protect the land on which unauthorised commercial complexes were built. “We have identified those who have grabbed enemy property and built illegal structures in Barola. We have issued notices and a plan of action is being readied,” said DMVerma.
A section of the land has been recovered and a temporary CISF camp has been set up to deter land mafia.
The encroached land is owned by the custodian of enemy property in India, a department under the Union ministry of home affairs.