A concerted encroachment removal drive launched by the District Magistrate (DM) of South district has resulted in the retrieval of 70 bighas of Government land valued at over Rs100 crore. The crackdown against the land sharks was ordered by Niharika Roy, the DM of South district. The land belonged to the Gram Sabha of the urbanised villages and was encroached upon by the greedy property dealers and land grabbers. The land reclaimed during the month long drive will be utilised for setting up people friendly facilities by the city Government.
According to a Delhi Government release; on August 6, 2014, after survey of the land by the district team, which detected the encroachment, demolition was carried out in Jonapur village and eight bighas of gaonsabha land of approximate market value of Rs15 crore was retrieved. Thereafter, the demolition in Maidan Garhi village was carried out on August 20, 2014. It resulted in the retrieval of 25 bighas of land worth Rs35 crore. A Police force of around 500 personnel was deployed to keep the miscreants at bay. The demolition was carried out on the order of Delhi High Court, they said.
A similar drive carried out on September 2, 2014, land measuring around eight bighas and Rs15 crore in the market was retrieved in Chhattarpur village through demolition of constructions on the Gram Sabha land. After four days the DM carried out a massive demolition in MaidanGarhi village and recovered 10 bighas of Gram Sabha land approximately valuing Rs18 crore. Over 600 men and officers of Delhi Police and personnel from Central paramilitary forces were deployed to maintain the law and order.
Two more demolition exercises were carried out in Ayanagar village. The first demolition was carried out on 8th September 2014. It retrieved more than one bigha of approximately Rs1 crore worth of land. It is proposed to allot this land to the Department of Health and Family Welfare for construction of a dispensary. Another demolition in the same village was carried on11th September, 2014. in the presence of a 500-plus strong contingent of Police force. land worth Rs30crore of measuring 17 bighas was retrieved.
Following this, in a demolition drive, two bighas of Gram Sabha land was retrieved in Asola village on September 16, 2014. The said exercise was carried on the basis of the complaints about encroachments received in the concerned office and survey of the area by the district team.
With increase in price of land in Delhi, pressure of encroachment on Government/gaonsabha land has increased a lot. The construction of the boundary walls along the boundary of the retrieved plots of land is underway to thwart any attempt of re-encroachment of these valuable parcels of the land.
Niharika Rai, District Magistrate (South), who led this drive has urged the public to thoroughly inquire about the ownership status of the land before buying any property. Unscrupulous property dealers often induce people in investing their hard earned money in government land and end up loosing crores of rupees. She said that encroachment of the government/gaonsabha lands will not be allowed under any circumstances and the encroachers will be thrown out from every inch of Government land.
The department has offered the retrieved valuable pieces of lands to all the other Government departments for making community assets like anganwadi centres, schools, dispensaries, hospitals, playgrounds, parks etc for the benefit of the people of these villages as well as public at large. Government departments often face constraint of land in constructing these facilities. The land can be allotted to Government departments with the approval of lieutenant Governor.