Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has identified a total of 351 colonies that have come up illegally on around 3,000 acres of land in the city. The development authority has advised people not to invest in these colonies, which officials said have mushroomed in the last 35 to 40 years, with quite a few having emerged in the last decade. In 2021, the number of illegal colonies identified in the district stood at 321, and 30 more have been identified since.A major issue with these colonies is that, due to a lack of awareness, buyers invest in properties here, and middlemen and land sharks play a big role in this.“We have made the names of these colonies public, and they are advised not to invest in properties in these colonies,” said an official from the GDA, adding, “Since the registries in these colonies could be done, there is a misconception among buyers that it gives legal sanctity to it. We cannot put a blanket ban on registries in these illegal colonies because the Registration Manual does not permit it.”Clause 241 of the Registration Manual states, “Registering officers should bear in mind that they are in no way concerned with the validity of the documents brought to them for registration, and it would be wrong for them to refuse to register on any such ground.”The official added, “At present, there are 351 illegal colonies occupying 2,944 acres of land. New Karhera colony, for instance, is spread over 250 acres on the floodplains of the Hindon River. In 2023, during the flood, Karhera was most hit as the area remained underwater for a fortnight or so.”Loni is another area with a high number of illegal colonies. “In the Loni Ailyabad area, 43 illegal colonies have come up on 43 acres of land. Sikhrani has two illegal colonies in two patches—38 acres and 25 acres. Illegal colonies in Pavi Sadipur are spread over an area of 137 acres and 97 acres in Mirpur Hindu – all of these are in Loni,” said the official.When asked about what action has been taken to check the growth of illegal colonies so far, the official said that GDA is carrying out demolition drives on a near daily basis under clauses 26, 27, and 28 of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Ordinance 1973, despite stiff opposition from locals. “To some extent, it has helped us rein in the growth of illegal colonies, but there are many such colonies that have been thriving for the last 35 to 40 years, and it is more of a legacy problem. Cracking down on such colonies is not easy.”Additionally, the development authority is working on an Artificial Intelligence-enabled Illegal Construction Detection System to check illegal construction and the growth of illegal colonies in the district.
