Gwal Pahari land issue: MCG takes possession of 142-acre land

Days after the Haryana government said the alleged transfer of 464 acres land in Gwal Pahari village here will be probed into, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon today took possession of 142-acre land in the village.
The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) team also installed boards indicating possession at 34 sites, an official spokesman said, adding the drive was carried out peacefully.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sohna, Satish Yadav, had been appointed as the Overall Duty Magistrate of the drive, he said.
He said the team of corporation officials and 300 police personnel, under the supervision of Corporation Joint Commissioner Y S Gupta carried out the drive in Gwal Pahari village from 10.30 AM to 6.30 PM.

As many as 10 earth moving machines, four drill machines, two fire tenders and two ambulances were pressed into service during the drive.
The spokesman said while heavy police force was deployed to tackle any untoward incident, the team did not face any opposition.

On the directions of Municipal Commissioner V Umashankar, plan was prepared to take possession of 39 sites.
"However, five persons produced stay orders issued by the court, so boards of possession were installed on the remaining 34 sites and roads. In case any person damages these boards, FIR would be registered against the violator," he said.

On March 10, both the Congress and the INLD raised the Gwal Pahari land issue in Haryana Assembly and accused the BJP-led government of transferring the land belonging to the municipal corporation to private parties.
However, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had denied any wrongdoing and said the land is public property and will not be allowed to be transferred to private parties.
He told the House that all land issues in Gurugram, Faridabad and Nuh districts will be inquired into.
BJP MLA from Gurugram, Umesh Aggarwal, had recently attack the state government by raising questions about the ownership of the land and had written a letter to the Chief Minister in this regard.

Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhary alleged the land of the Municipal Corporation had been given to private persons and is a "Rs 4,000 crore land scam". Both Congress and main opposition while describing it as a serious issue, had sought CBI probe into it.