Authorities will not impose any penalty or charge for the removal of illegal construction if respective owners will demolish their encroachment on their own, said the vice chairman of Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), Bansidhar Tiwari. His statement is on the lines of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's recent comment regarding the ongoing anti-encroachment campaign in Uttarakhand.
The CM has recently stated that people should themselves remove the illegal constructions on the government land or be prepared for stern action as the ongoing drive will not stop till all encroachments are removed. He said in a warning to encroachers, "Atikraman khud hata le, warna sabka number aayega (remove the encroachment yourself because none will be spared). Encroachment, especially on government land, is a crime and the government will not allow it. We will continue to take strict action till the government land is encroachment-free." MDDA along with respective municipal bodies and police have been removing encroachments on a daily basis for the past few days under the drive.
Authorities charge encroachers for the demolition of their illegal construction on encroached land but Tiwari said that as per the regulation, the MDDA will not charge people if they will remove their encroachments on their own. He said that they are also acting against illegal construction done within a distance of 30 metres of a river, parking space being used for other purposes and construction done without map approval of MDDA. He said that if people take cognisance of these issues on their own, MDDA will neither charge them for any demolition nor impose any penalty. However, MDDA will continue to take strict action against every encroachment and violation, added Tiwari.