Bid to raise illegal colony foiled, infrastructure razed

Excelsior Correspondent

JCB engaged to raze infrastructure at illegal colony in Vijaypur area on Tuesday. —Excelsior/Gautam

SAMBA, July 23: The District Administration today foiled the attempt of M/s Dutta Builders of  Paloura, Jammu to construct an ‘illegal’ colony near Gurha Slathia on Utterbehni Road in Vijaypur area of district Samba and razed the infrastructure and boards raised at the site.
The action was taken against the owner of the Dutta Builders  after he did not respond to several warnings by the District and Tehsil Administration. On the orders of  the Deputy Commissioner Samba, R K Varma, the Assistant Commissioner Revenue, Samba Ashwani Khajuria, Tehsildar Vijaypur Avtar Singh, Naib Tehsildar concerned, SHO Vijaypur Iqbal Choudhary along with some force and other Revenue officials reached at the site and smashed the infrastructure raised at nearly 80 kanal of  land (colony), situated about 7 kms from National Highway on Utterbehni Road today.  Using JCB and bulldozer, the team also razed the poles and other infrastructure. Some people of the builders escaped when the raid was conducted at the site.
A senior officer in the District Administration Samba said that builder, Rajan Dutta had raised boards and poles at his own without taking any permission from the concerned authorities.  The markings had been raised  and he had stated selling plots by making wider publicity through electronic and print media. He had not taken permission from concerned Revenue, PHE, PDD and allied agencies and moreover, the status of the land can not be changed even if  the land belonged to a private party. Proper permission is needed from the competent authority.
A Naib Tehsildar  along with staff had been sent to the site to stop the work about a week back. On some earlier occasions, the builder was asked not to indulge in unlawful/ illegal activity but he did not bother and ultimately, Administration had to act in this regard. He also warned the people who are in the process of purchasing these plots or intend to purchase the same to be careful before making any deal. He said the legal action is also being initiated against the builder who was doing this all using some political influence.