Barely 36 hours before Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's visit to Ghaziabad to inaugurate Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims rest house on Thursday, the District Administration, in a sudden move, shifted the construction site from the GT Road near Haj House to Shakti Khand (V) in Indirapuram.
Sources in the District Administration said that the site was changed to avoid any controversy in future as the earlier site is listed as a lake on the flood plains of Hindon River in the district revenue record.
District Magistrate (DM) Ministhy S Nair said that the Chief Minister will inaugurate the site by laying the foundation stone.
The District Administration sources said that the new site has been chosen in Shakti Khand of Indirapuram area. The new site was chosen after a substantial portion of 5,193.06 square metre land in khasra number 1,330 and 1,312 in near Haj House was found recorded as lake and flood plains. law prohibits changing the land use of flood plains, hence, an alternative site was located for constructing the rest house for Amarnath pilgrims. Any construction here could have been in violation of the established rules and court directives.
"Mayor Ashu Verma has mis-represented the facts before the Chief Minister and passed the resolution in the municipal board meeting. Mayor knew that the land use can not be changed but he went ahead to score few brownie points. I submitted a letter to the DM in July with all the relevant papers and facts. The DM agreed with my submission" said Akash Vashishtha an environmental activists who had filed a petition in this regard before the NGT.