HUDA authorities carry out anti-encroachment drive

The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) carried out an eviction drive in Gurgaon Sector 47, adjoining to Fatehpur Jharsa village, to clear unauthorised settlements on a plot of land leading to an apartment complex.
The anti-encroachment drive was taken up in compliance with a Punjab and Haryana High Court order, Administrator of HUDA-Gurgaon Anita Yadav said here today.
She said the High Court had asked the HUDA authorities to provide approach road to the residents of Uniworld Garden-II.
Consequently, a drive was taken up on April 12. She said that again the case came up for hearing on April 29, in which HUDA submitted that the approach road had been cleared.

According to Yadav, about 17.22 acres of land, acquired by HUDA in Fatehpur Jharsa, was under "illegal possession of land mafia and 'jhuggis' on this piece of land were rented out to outsiders, majority of whom are Bangladeshis".
The land has been cleared on the directions of the High Court and Uniworld Garden-II residents have been provided approach road.

During the encroachment removal exercise, the HUDA team had to face stiff resistance from the encroachers and land mafia who resorted to pelting stones on the squad and police.
As a result, Estate Officer-II Tarun Kumar Pawaria and Estate Officer-I Om Prakash, who was deployed as Duty Magistrate, and a number of police personnel were injured.

According to Yadav, the whole encroachment removal drive was video-graphed, from where persons who attacked the demolition squad and those who instigated them were identified and booked.
She said that due to illegal occupation of this land, the work of construction of internal sector roads of sector 47 was hampered, causing inconvenience to the residents.
Earlier also the HUDA authorities attempted to vacate this land from encroachments in 2011 but then the encroachers set the vehicle of the then Estate Officer-II on fire though the officer managed to escape.