The survey to ascertain the status of municipal lands in Dehradun was earlier hampered by the strike of ministerial Collectorate employees and has now been resumed. While the survey progresses, the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun has continued to act against encroachments on the back side of Pacific Hills apartments on Rajpur Road slated to be demolished pending the report of the land measurements undertaken, said Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat.
It is pertinent to mention here that a considerable proportion of MCD’s lands have been lost down the years to encroachment that continues to pose a problem in the State capital.
The task of surveying the corporation’s lands in Dehradun was started some time back and was slated to be completed in two months. According to the MNA, “The survey of the municipal lands was to be completed in two months but with the Tehsil remaining closed due to strike of the employees, we were unable to get the maps required to ascertain the status of our lands.
Now that the strike has ended the survey work has been resumed,” he said. Rawat further informed that as part of its anti-encroachment drive, the corporation had demolished some shacks on Rajpur Road on Thursday.
“Additionally, we have found that about 1,200 square metre land on the backside of Pacific Hills apartments has been encroached upon. We will confirm this with the report on land measurements and then demolish the encroachment,” he added.
It should be noted here that slum settlements along and on riverbeds, illegal constructions for residential and commercial purposes by various people and commercial enterprises have raised the level of encroachment in Dehradun to alarming proportions. Political influence, corrupt officials and other factors have prevented the authorities from taking effective action against encroachments.
It is expected that after completion of the MCD land survey, at least the level of encroachment on the corporation’s lands will become known and elicit the required action.