Ghaziabad development body cancels two layout maps of projects on farmers' land

Ghaziabad development body cancels two layout maps of projects on farmers’ land

GHAZIABAD: The layout maps of two projects in Crossings Republik were cancelled on Tuesday after the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) found that the developers had included in their plans land belonging to some farmers.

The inquiry against the developers was carried out on a complaint by councillor Rajendra Tyagi, who claimed that a group of farmers from Dundahera village had come to him alleging that the two developers had included their land in the layout plans and got them illegally approved by some officials of the town and country planning department. While GDA remained tightlipped on whether they had found any official guilty, vice-chairperson Krishna Karunesh merely issued the order cancelling the two layouts.

“About six months ago, four farmers from Dundahera had come to me with a complaint that their land was usurped from them by two developers who wanted to build approach roads there,” Tyagi said.

“They produced documents proving that the land belonged to them. We lodged an official complaint with the GDA, but there was hardly any headway. So, I wrote to senior officials and even to the chief minister. In the last six months, I wrote at least a dozen letters to them,” he added.

Tyagi questioned how the maps were approved by the GDA department without a proper verification. According to rules, a junior engineer first visits the site for which a map has been submitted to the development authority. “In this case, the plan was approved by both the junior engineer and the executive engineer. It finally reached the town planning department, which also gave its nod,” the councillor said.

The developers, Tyagi alleged, bribed their way through to get the maps approved.

A GDA official, however, explained that Crossings Republik was conceived under the Integrated Township Policy. “Under this policy, developers have the leeway to get their maps passed if they own a minimum 60% of the land on which the project is coming up. In this case, they owned 75% of the land. So the maps were approved. So, according to the policy, there was no wrongdoing on the part of GDA,” the official added.