Land sharks serve legal notice to officials

NOIDA: Land sharks who have been served notices for demolition of their illegal units along the Yamuna and Hindon floodplains have decided to take the administration head-on. Legal notices have been issued to the UP chief secretary Jawed Usmani, Noida Authority CEO Rama Raman, district magistrate Ravi Kant Singh, SSP Preetinder Singh, Noida Authority deputy CEO Rajesh Prakash, among other officers for trying to demolish units constructed by the alleged land mafia.
The administration had issued the notices in accordance with orders of the National Green Trubunal. In its order on May 20, NGT directed the governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to ensure that no unauthorized or illegal constructions remained on the floodplains.
The land mafia, however, say that they are not doing any illegal activity. "There is no impact of the NGT order on us as none of the units that we have constructed violate any norms. This is the reason we are also challenging the authorities who have issued notices to us," said a representative of the land owners.
Environmentalists allege that the land sharks have become bold in taking the administration head-on due to the corrupt cops and bureaucracy.