Jaipur: Final week, the Jaipur Growth Authority (JDA) — the company liable for infrastructural improvement within the Pink Metropolis — took a bulldozer to 2 properties, one in every of them a teaching centre.
In a reminder of the Uttar Pradesh authorities’s present coverage, the properties that got here underneath the bulldozer’s ruthless blade belonged to Suresh Dhaka and Bhupendra Saran, the primary suspects within the December 2022 instructor recruitment examination paper leak case.
The demolition acquired huge protection, with information businesses evaluating it with these by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, whose coverage of razing down buildings has earned him the sobriquet ‘Bulldozer Baba’.
What didn’t make the information, nonetheless, was that Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot authorities has been utilizing bulldozers to demolish “unlawful encroachments” and industrial buildings which have come up on authorities land, together with properties belonging to these with legal prices, since 2019 — a yr earlier than Adityanath authorities’s first demolition.
Senior officers from the JDA informed ThePrint that for the reason that Gehlot authorities got here to energy in December 2018, it has been utilizing bulldozers to clear authorities land of encroachments.
In 2019, the JDA had been given strict directions to “rein in” encroachers, stated officers. Since then, the company has used bulldozers to demolish “unlawful” flats and industrial buildings, together with these belonging to folks accused in legal instances.
In accordance with information offered by JDA, the authority demolished 18 large buildings in 2019, 20 in 2020, 16 in 2021, and 22 in 2022.
This month alone, the JDA demolished two “unlawful” industrial buildings, together with a training centre run by one of many suspects within the December 2022 paper leak case and “unlawful extensions” in a residential property belonging to a second suspect in the identical case.
Among the many different “unlawful” buildings that the company has demolished are a three-storeyed school constructing and a college in 2022 belonging to one of many important accused of the September 2021 Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Lecturers (REET) examination paper leak case and industrial properties of an Indian Income Service officer caught by the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau. That property was razed in 2019.
Whereas it might look the identical, there’s a distinction within the Rajasthan mannequin vis-a-vis the insurance policies adopted by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Not like the opposite two states, the place the usage of bulldozers grew to become controversial over the allegation that they have been more and more to “goal minority properties”, no such distinction is made in Rajasthan, a senior Rajasthan authorities official claimed.
“Our mandate is (to) free authorities land of encroachments. If residential or industrial buildings have come up in violation of the Grasp Plan and with out approval from the JDA, we demolish them after following due course of,” Raghuveer Saini, JDA’s enforcement wing chief, informed ThePrint.
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‘Due course of adopted’
Saini informed ThePrint that since 2019, the JDA had managed to free 57 lakh sq.m of presidency land in Jaipur from encroachers.
Officers stated that in January 2022, the JDA took suo motu cognizance for the primary time and demolished some “unlawful” industrial properties. Among the many buildings it bulldozed have been a three-storeyed school constructing and a college belonging to Ram Kripal Meena, the primary accused within the September 2021 REET examination paper leak case.
The buildings had come up illegally on authorities land within the Jagannath Puri space of town, claimed JDA officers.
“Kripal had openly encroached on 11,394 sq. metre of presidency land and constructed an unlawful school, a college, a dairy, and different industrial buildings, in violation of JDA guidelines. He was despatched a present trigger discover, however his response was not passable, forcing us to demolish the properties,” Saini added.
However this time round, the demolition, which additionally included some parts of a residential property, was carried out on the state authorities’s instructions.
Each Dhaka and Saran, the 2 suspects within the December 2022 REET examination paper leak case whose properties have been demolished final week, are at the moment absconding.
A JDA official informed ThePrint {that a} thorough survey was performed by the company’s technical and engineering staff.
After the staff marked the encroachments, JDA officers claimed notices have been served to the constructing proprietor earlier this month and the teaching centre operator, each of whom got 72 hours to reply.
“One of many accused approached the Appellate Tribunal of the JDA difficult the discover however the tribunal after listening to the matter gave a ruling in our favour,” the official stated.
Demolitions underneath Vasundhara Raje
Demolishing “unlawful” buildings isn’t a brand new phenomenon for the JDA. A senior official of the JDA claimed that a number of buildings — together with temples — have been demolished when Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) chief Vasundhara Raje grew to become Chief Minister in 2013.
The JDA had razed near 100 such buildings in Jaipur alone for the metro rail challenge, the official stated.
The demolition drive had invited the ire of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). When requested, Raje had defiantly informed an upset RSS that temples have been demolished “for development”.
Nevertheless, officers on the JDA informed ThePrint that whereas demolition drives have been performed earlier than, now the JDA follows a extra concerted method.
Since 2019, the company has put into place a “fool-proof mechanism to establish and take motion in opposition to all such unlawful constructions which have come up on authorities land in violation of the regulation”, the senior JDA official stated.
“We have been informed to not spare anyone. Immediately, encroachments on authorities land have come down drastically and there may be concern among the many land mafia. Many land sellers at the moment are taking approval from JDA earlier than beginning any building,” the official stated.
The land, he stated, was encroached upon by a retired Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer in one of many residential colonies in Jaipur.
“The encroachment had been there for near 30 years however no person may take motion. There was plenty of strain on us too. However we didn’t budge and received the encroachments eliminated,” Saini stated.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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