Land sharks eye unutilised tracts along Gomti river

Huge tracts of land lying barren and unutilised on both the banks of Gomti is being targeted by land sharks thanks to its potential as prime real estate in the wake of ongoing river front development project.

The trend has set alarm bells ringing and authorities have been forced to sit up and take notice of this rampant encroachment along the river bed before it gets too late.

Taking cognizance of the development, commissioner Lucknow division Mahesh Gupta has shot off a missive to the local civic agencies and the irrigation department to prevent land grabbing and evict encroachers.

But officials continue to pass the buck on the question as to whose job it is to ensure that encroachers are kept at bay.

“We have received the commissioner’s missive in this regard but there is very little we can do as the issue relates to enforcement and we do not have the power to take action on our own,” said a senior engineer of the irrigation department. He said while the land along the river basin belonged to the department, it was Lucknow Municipal Corporation and the LDA, who were empowered to carry out anti-encroachment drives in the development area.

“We are willing to be part of the enforcement team but then we cannot move on our own against the land grabbers,” he said adding that he had sent a letter to both LDA and the LMC to provide him a copy of the byelaws.

When contacted LMC officials said there role in the Gomti River Front Development project was limited to prevent dumping of garbage along the river banks, stop drains and untreated sewer from flowing into the river.

“It is LDA, which was made the nodal agency. It has also undertaken the beautification work along the banks for which it was given Rs 40 crore by the state government,” said an LMC official.

While LDA vice chairman and chief engineer were not available for comments, another official associated with the project confirmed that they had a meeting with the irrigation department recently.

“The irrigation department has prepared a development and beautification blueprint based on the feedback they received from their minister’s (Shiv Pal Yadav) Japan visit,” he said. The authorities, he said, had identified the specific stretches along the river where land could be reclaimed for development and commercial exploitation. He said a joint action plan would be chalked out at a meeting to be chaired by commissioner, Lucknow division soon.