Grabbing land with statues

GHAZIABAD: Statues and portraits of B R Ambedkar are allegedly being illegally installed on public land here. The mayor has called it "land grabbing", but magistrates and municipal officials are unwilling to move against the encroachers.
In one case, the Municipal Corporation of Ghaziabad (MCG) sold land to a businessman for Rs 30 lakh, but the plot could not be handed over to him.The sale of the land, adjoining the old bus terminal police post, had been ratified by a high-powered committee headed by the then divisional commissioner, on November 20 last year. It was to be handed over to one Dinesh Gupta last week.
But, a group of men placed portraits of Buddha and Dr Ambedkar on the land and declared they would build a Buddha temple there. The police warned the men not to grab the land, but to no avail.
City magistrate Sarvajit Ram then tried to persuade the squatters to disperse, but failed. So he "postponed" the decision on the land till June 25.
District magistrate Sanjiv Mittal said, "There is now a dispute. But since the land has not yet been handed over, the deal can be revoked." On why no report of encroachment on public land had been filed, he said, "The corporation will do that, if necessary."
Meanwhile, a member of the legislative council (MLC), Mangal Sain Kori, along with some others have installed a statue of B R Ambedkar on public land in Nandgram Colony. The statue was installed outside an Ambedkar Community Centre built with the MLC’s discretionary funds. Kori could not be contacted as he was out of Ghaziabad.
Asked why the MCG was not filing an encroachment report, its chief executive officer B P Maurya said, "We have sent a report to the mayor seeking instructions. He can order the filing of an first information report."
But the mayor D C Garg said, "All executive powers are vested with Maurya. Basically, it appears the government is backing the installation of these statues. Officials seem to be scared."