Nearly 738 acres of MCG land acquired illegally

Gurugram: Major projects of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) like opening a meat slaughterhouse, dairy units, sports stadium and educational institutions have been delayed for years and the major reason behind these projects not taking off is the shortage of land space.

Official reports, however, cited that how the prime land assets of the government body are being gobbled up by the land sharks.

According to the sources in the enforcement wing department, nearly 738 acres of MCG land have been acquired illegally in the form of encroachment and unauthorised colonies and commercial establishments.

MCG has divided Gurugram into four zones. In the zone -1, over 48 acres of land is lost, in zone-2 153 acres has been usurped by the land mafia and in zone -3, and zone -4, it is 499 acres and 38 acres respectively. The valuation of these properties combines is estimated to be over Rs 2,000 crores.

"The process of illegally acquiring the government lands has been continuing from the late '90s when the value of real estate in Gurugram became expensive. The MCG was formed in 2008 and tackling this challenge in the purview of law is one of the biggest challenges. We have begun taking action against the violators and undertaking tasks to remove encroachments in the city," said a senior official from MCG.

Highlighting a loss in public exchequer, officials of the Gurugram civic body has decided to regularise these colonies.

There have also been instances of graft where it has found that certain officials were providing occupation certificate to the builders who were building the illegal colonies and commercial establishments.

After the incident, the public agencies that involved the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), Department of Town Country Planning (DTCP) and HUDA have begun to act against the errant builder.

Besides the land mafia, these colonies are also being used by the tanker mafia who build illegal bore wells in these areas and then sell the water to the residents at exorbitant rates. The MCG has begun the process of the launching massive encroachment- free drives and clearing its area of illegal structures.

There is, however, criticism that action against the big fish is not being taken.

While there are enough illegal colonies in the city centre, there is a great increase in these townships in the outskirts of the city where the levels of scrutiny are lower. The growth of the illegal colonies in the in the city has resulted in the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) still not being able to meet its target of collecting adequate property taxes.