Curious case of over 140 hectares of 'missing' land in Ghaziabad

Curious case of over 140 hectares of ‘missing’ land in Ghaziabad

GHAZIABAD: More than 140 hectares of land worth over Rs 1,000 crore and belonging to Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) is “missing”, TOI has learnt.

After assuming charge, officials said, GDA vice-chairperson Krishna Karunesh had asked the acquisition department to come up with the authority’s land record and upon scrutiny it was found that the land parcels it had saved for the future were missing.

“Well aware of GDA’s financial condition, Krishna was mulling options to raise funds. Accordingly the land acquisition department was asked to come up with land records. Upon scruti-ny, it was found that over 140 hectares worth Rs 1,000 crore are missing,” said an official of the development authority.

In Pratap Vihar, for instance, GDA had acquired over 200 hectares of land over a period of time. Of the same, some 166 hectares were developed while the remaining land was nowhere to be found during an on-spot survey. Likewise, there are eight more places where officials are facing problems in locating the land.

When asked how such large chunks of land could vanish, the official said, “We suspect that the land parce-ls may have been encroached upon by land grabbers in connivance with some corrupt GDA officials or there is also a possibility that GDA has failed to acquire the land.”

“While the enforcement wing and the land acquisition department have been asked to locate the lost land, the vice chairperson has also hinted at initiating an inquiry to ascertain the culpability of officials,” he added.
Curious case of over 140 hectares of ‘missing’ land in GhaziabadAs per records, over a period of time, GDA had acquired 524.28 hectares of land in Indirapuram, out of which it developed 503.70 hectares, while the remaining 19.74 hectares are missing.

Similarly, in Kaushambi, some 93.56 hectares were acquired by GDA out of which 89.06 hectares were developed, while there is no information about the remaining 4.2 hectares. In Vaishali too, GDA had acquired 260.46 hectares — while 236.36 hectares were developed, the unused 23.56 hectares remain missing.

In Kavi Nagar, the total land acquired by the development authority was 229.92 hectares. While 223.45 hectares were developed, there is no trace of the remaining land. In Rajnagar too, out of 292.27 hectares of land acquired, 274.44 hectares were used for development work while 17.83 hectares remain missing.

In addition to these 140 hectares, land parcels belonging to GDA worth Rs 500 crore are under different stages of litigation. “To recover these lands, the VC has also instructed its law department to present before him the status of each and every case,” said the official.