Encroachment and illegal constructions on the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun-owned land are mushrooming in the State capital with the officials concerned evidently failing to tackle this problem. When asked about this, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli informed that joint demarcation of MCD’s lands would be done after a survey.
Chamoli said that MCD has total 700 hectares of land in the State capital. But the exact area being encroached upon is still to be ascertained, he added. He added that he had formed a three-member committee to initiate the survey. The members of the committee include leader of Opposition in MCD Ninu Sehgal and councillors Bhupendra Kathait and Nikhil Kumar.
He said that survey would be started soon and it would cost around Rs 25 to 30 lakh. After the completion of the survey joint demarcation of the MCD land would be done. The demarcation work would be done first by the Tehsil administration and then by MCD. Thereafter it would become easier for the officials of the MCD to penalise those found encroaching again on the MCD land.
The Mayor further said that the marked land of MCD would be utilised only for public use and some public related construction works would be done on these lands. He informed that MCD is also planning to start a housing scheme on MCD land in coordination with HUDCO. He also added that he would ensure that all the Below Poverty line (BPl) people benefit under this scheme.
Chamoli informed that builders and land mafia were encroaching on the corporation’s lands mainly due to the political back up provided by various leaders for their political and monetary benefits. He added that there are various leaders who motivate such activities just for increasing their vote bank.