Demolition cost to be recovered from owners of illegal constructions
PRAYAGRAJ: Coming down heavily on illegal constructions by mafias, gangsters, historysheeters and their close aides, Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) is not only demolishing their illegal structures, but now will also recover the cost of demolition from them, said a PDA official.
The PDA has started sending recovery notices to the owners of these illegal structures with instructions for payment of expenses incurred by the development authority during the demolition drives, the official said.
“Recovery notices are being sent to mafias, gangsters and history-sheeters for payment of expenses of demolition as per the set norms. The expenses that PDA wishes to recover, include wages of labourers, use of JCBs, diesel, deployment of police personnel etc, during the demolition drives,” said Dayanand Prasad, PDA secretary.
According to the officials, expenses are calculated as per the area and size of the construction along with the number of JCBs and labourers deployed in the different drives. It is estimated that total recovery for demolition will be a hefty amount that will be recovered from the owners of the demolished constructions.
Former Phulpur MP Atiq Ahmad has also been sent a recovery notice of Rs 16 lakh for the demolition of his house that was built in a large area while the lesser amounts are to be paid by those with smaller plot and constructions, they said.
As of now, PDA has demolished 55 illegal constructions owned by mafias, gangsters, history-sheeters and their henchmen in Prayagraj district. PDA officials claimed that the buildings were illegal as no maps were sanctioned for their construction.
Most of the illegal constructions that were razed belonged to mafa-turned-politician and Atiq Ahmad, his relatives and close aides. Besides, buildings owned by gangster and former Chaka block chairman Dilip Mishra, MLA Vijay Mishra, gangster Bachha Pasi, Chhotan Giri, history-sheeter Javed aka Pappu Ganjia and other criminals in Jhunsi area.