Ghaziabad development body unable to get back land worth Rs 500 crore from squatters

GHAZIABAD: GDA’s land worth Rs 500 crore has been usurped by land mafias and now it has
become a huge challenge for the development authority to free the same. Over the past few
years, the GDA has freed about 13 hectares of land but over 24 hectares in different areas,
including Indirapuram and Vaishali, still remain encroached.
Into his second stint as chief minister too, Yogi Adityanath is keen on carrying the impression of
the “bulldozer baba” image bent on cracking down on the land mafia.
TOI has learnt that the state government recently sought from the GDA details on land under
encroachment. The order has been duly complied with by the development authority, according
to officials.
“The GDA has been carrying out anti-encroachment drives from time to time, but roughly 24
hectares are still under squatters,” a senior GDA official said. “The problem with the remaining
land (24 hectares) is that permanent structures have come up and much of the encroached land
is densely populated. So, it would require a lot of effort to free the land.”
However, residents alleged that the system in the development authority has been corrupt.
“There is widespread corruption in the GDA, mostly at the lower level, and for years the land
earmarked for future projects has been gradually taken over by encroachers. Yet, the GDA
didn’t do anything, rather officials were complicit in allowing land to be taken over,” said Ashish
Kumar, a resident of Indirapuram. “After all, the encroachment didn’t happen overnight. GDA
has an enforcement wing tasked to ensure that the authority’s land remains encroachment-free.”
In fact, encroachments have taken place not in the far-flung areas but in the middle of townships
like Indirapuram, Vaishali and Kaushambi. According to officials, some 14 hectares were
encroached in these three localities, of which seven hectares have been freed. In its
Indraprastha housing scheme, the GDA over the years has managed to free only three hectares
of a total 11 hectares of encroached land.
“The report on encroached land has been sent to the state government. Now, we will plan a
massive anti-encroachment drive in a phased manner to free our land from squatters,” the
official said.