Strict against illegal constructions in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government is now going to run bulldozers on encroachments on all government lands, including parks, ponds and puddles in urban bodies.
On behalf of the government, all the urban bodies have been instructed to identify illegal constructions and encroachments and take action as per rules.
It has also been asked to ensure that information regarding encroachments is provided on the anti-land mafia portal (IGRS Portal).
It may be mentioned here that the state government has already taken stern steps against illegal constructions in the state. Land worth thousands of crores of rupees has been freed from the clutches of the land mafia.
In this sequence, it has now been decided to free the government land from illegal constructions by running this campaign in the urban bodies.
The order issued by the state government says that every urban body is expected to mark such public lands, parks, ponds, puddles, etc. in their areas which are being encroached by the land mafia or anyone else. All such government property should be freed from encroachments and necessary legal action should be taken against the illegal occupants. It should also be ensured that they are registered on the IGRS Portal (anti-land mafia portal) with the help of the Revenue department.
The order adds that it will be the responsibility of every urban body to provide information related to its body to the director, Directorate of Local Bodies, who will make this information available to the government.
It is worth mentioning here that in order to remove encroachment from public land and to take effective action against illegal encroachers, the Revenue department has been running an anti-land mafia campaign since 2017. A four-level task force has also been constituted to review the anti-land mafia campaign at the state, divisional, district and tehsil levels.
Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra is the chairman of the state-level Anti-Land Mafia Task Force, while principal secretary (Urban Development) along with other departments are members of this state-level task force. From time to time, review meetings of the state-level Anti-Land Mafia Task Force are held by the chief secretary and principal secretary, Revenue department. In the review meeting of the recently concluded state-level Anti-Land Mafia Task Force, it was found that the information about illegal encroachments and illegal occupants on public land in urban bodies is negligible on the anti-land mafia portal. This step has been taken by the state government in view of the possibility of holding a review meeting of the state-level Anti-Land Mafia Task Force at a higher level in future.