News: Service roads cleared of squatters-09-04-2021
Service roads cleared of squatters
Gurgaon: The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) on Thursday cleared the service roads of sectors 58-60 of illegal structures. According to officials, the roads were entirely blocked by the squatters, who had constructed site offices, labour camps and shops.
A team of junior engineers Sandeep Lot, Sumit Budhwar and Ashish Tyagi, along with police, started the drive on Thursday morning, which continued till the evening.
According to officials, they faced protests and resistance from the encroachers during the drive. “Several shops, and structures like site office, labour camp and other structures were demolished to free up the service road,” Lot said, adding that they also restored the service roads wherein it was merged with the project of a private developer.
“The service roads were non-functional due to encroachments,” said Lot adding that some of the private developers have given in writing that they will remove the encroachment in next one week. He said the department will remove the remaining structures if the developer fails to remove it in a week.
He said GMDA will continue the drive to free service roads of new sectors. “We have identified the service roads with encroachments and we will continue such drives,” he said.
The encroachment along roads in new sectors has emerged as a major problem in last few years, officials said. Last year, GMDA along with DTCP and MCG had cleared encroachments along the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), but the encroachers were back after a few weeks, officials said.
Officials also added that the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) had acquired 90 metre on either side of the SPR for green space and for further expansion of the road. But most of the area earmarked for green belt has been encroached in the last four years, leading to snarls during peak hours.
