GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad Development Authority has reclaimed more than 60,000 sqm of land through its anti-encroachment drives over the last year. More than 30 illegal colonies have been razed so far as part of the drive.
“Between Jan 1, 2024, and Jan 17, 2025, GDA carried out anti-encroachment demolition drives across all its eight zones. A total of 87 illegal structures and hutments were razed and over 60,000 sqm of land was reclaimed from land grabbers and secured,” a GDA official said.
In addition to demolition drives, officials have also carried out sealing of illegal structures, registered FIRs against individuals found encroaching spaces and handed out fines.
“FIRs were filed in 172 cases in different police stations. We also managed to seal 280 structures and issued challans in 785 cases. An amount of Rs 29.36 crore was collected as a compounding charge,” the official added.
Anti-encroachment drives were also necessitated to increase the land bank, which the development authority may require for its Harnandipuram township project. GDA will need 501 hectares of land for its township, out of which 11 hectares are already under the purview of the development authority.
“While the demolition drive has been carried out across the district, it was mostly in areas like RNE, Duhai, Basantpur Seinthli, Muradnagar, Modinagar, and Navipur areas. These areas are in proximity to the proposed township and also fall under the TOD zone,” the official further explained.
This has been GDA’s most sustained drive to reclaim its land in the last few years. In 2021, GDA had identified 321 illegal colonies across the city, which included Brij Nagri, Nandini Enclave, Durga Enclave, and Pandav Nagar.
In previous years, cracking the whip on illegal structures, the GDA had unilaterally banned the registration of land or properties that came up in designated illegal colonies. GDA had contended that the stamp and registry department should verify the land records and documents before executing land registries on lands and colonies that were encroached upon.
This had led to bad blood between the GDA and the stamps and registration department, and the matter eventually reached Allahabad High Court, with the court in 2019 imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on the then Ghaziabad district magistrate, Ritu Maheshwari, for imposing a ban on registries in illegal colonies.
