Noida Authority demolishes shops, frees land worth Rs 3.5 crore from mafia

Noida, Aug 22 (IANS) In a massive crackdown on the real estate mafia in Uttar Pradesh, Noida Authority on Thursday freed land worth Rs 3.5 crore in its drive against encroachment on government property.

On Thursday, demolition of illegal constructions in Noida Sector 42 was carried out under the supervision of Senior Manager of Work Circle-3 of the Noida Authority.

Illegal construction had been done on five per cent of the plot in Sector 42 and shops had been built on about 1,000 square meters of the land which were to be sold to unsuspecting customers later.

The land belonging to Noida Authority was meant for residential projects and was being usurped by the land mafia.

The hold of the land mafia was such that even after a notice was issued by the Noida Authority, the illegal construction was not demolished.

In view of the non-compliance by the builder, the Noida Authority carried out a demolition drive on Thursday morning and destroyed the illegally constructed shops on its land.

The demolitions were carried out with the aid of two JCBs in the presence of 50 employees of the authority and a team of the Noida police.

The police prevented protests by people present during the demolition and the work went on peacefully after that.

The authority is demolishing illegal constructions by conducting continuous drives in the township.

So far, about 6 lakh square meters of land worth Rs 2,000 crore has been freed from illegal occupation.

The CEO of Noida Authority has given strict instructions that illegal constructions by the land mafia have to be completely demolished.

The CEO has also issued an advisory to the general public stating that those investing in properties, particularly land, in Noida, should first get complete information about it from the authority.

According to data given by the authority, the highest encroachment was found in Sorkha, Zahidabad and Salarpur villages located in Sectors 76, 78, 79, and 118 where six drives were conducted to reclaim the land worth Rs 195 crore.

This was followed by the removal of encroachments on 15,000 square meters of land in Salarpur Khadar village and Sector 78, having a market value of Rs 72 crore.

–IANS

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