Kanpur: Ghatampur tehsil administration on Tuesday freed 0.5600 hectare of pasture land on the Kanpur-Hamirpur highway in front of the Naveli Power Plant from encroachment using bulldozers.The action formed part of an ongoing campaign against land mafias launched by the district administration. The value of the illegally occupied pasture land was around Rs 10 crore.According to revenue records, Gata No. 349 B (0.3826 hectare) and Gata No. 350 (1.6800 hectare) were recorded as pasture land. It was alleged that Rajveer Singh, son of Santosh Singh, a resident of Koyla Nagar, and his family members had illegally occupied about 56 biswa of grazing land.Officials said the encroachers constructed a building under the name Kalindi Hotel and developed a hotel lawn, roads and other public amenities. The pasture land was excavated and used for commercial activities.The revenue department had earlier issued instructions to stop the construction work, but the encroachers continued construction and converted the land meant for public use into private commercial use. During a visit on Saturday, the SDM Ghatampur, warned the hotel operator to remove the illegal encroachment, but he did not show interest in removing it voluntarily.The revenue team again asked for the possession to be removed in the presence of the owners, but they did not react. On Tuesday morning, the revenue and the police administration took joint action and freed the land from encroachment by removing illegal construction with bulldozers.The hotel management protested during the demolition. The hotel manager, who resisted, was detained by the police and sent to jail. Further legal action was initiated against the encroachers.
