The Ghaziabad district administration launched a significant demolition operation on Thursday, targeting illegal colonies and land occupation in the Loni tehsil area. The action, directed by District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Mandar, focused on unauthorised constructions that had sprung up in violation of land-use norms, particularly on the ecologically sensitive Yamuna floodplains.
Major Drive Against Illegal Constructions
A joint team comprising officials from the revenue department, Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), UPSIDA, and the local police carried out the demolition. The operation resulted in the removal of illegal colonies spread across approximately 13.5 hectares of land in the villages of Mirpur Hindu and Badarpur. Officials confirmed that the constructions were unauthorised and violated zoning regulations, including development within the river's floodplain zone.
Warnings Ignored Led to Action
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Loni, Deepak Singhanwal, explained the sequence of events. He stated that illegal plotting and construction, including boundary walls and pillars, had emerged on the Yamuna floodplains. "This is general knowledge that construction is not allowed in the Yamuna floodplains," Singhanwal said. The area was submerged during the Yamuna floods in September last year, which prompted the administration to identify the defaulters.
Multiple notices were sent to those responsible, warning them of demolition if they did not remove the illegal structures themselves. As the constructions continued unabated despite the warnings, the administration proceeded with the demolition drive on Thursday.
District-Wide Crackdown on Land Mafia
The demolition was part of a broader district-wide initiative against illegal land occupation and professional land grabbers. A day before the drive, DM Ravindra Kumar Mandar chaired a high-level revenue review meeting. In the meeting, he issued clear instructions for a coordinated crackdown and directed all tehsils to form dedicated task forces to curb the activities of the land mafia.
The DM's review covered several critical areas:
- Status of anti-land mafia actions
- Revenue collection
- Removal of encroachments on government land
- Mining-related enforcement
- Task force functioning
- Disaster management preparedness
- Progress of digitisation of land records
This comprehensive review underscores the administration's commitment to tackling the issue of illegal land grabbing from multiple angles, ensuring better governance and protection of public land.
