22 LIT land sites worth crores encroached, says RTI reply

The negligence on the part of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust to get its land cleared from the encroachers can be gauged from the fact that 22 primary land sites worth crores are at present encroached upon by various establishments like religious buildings, parks, slums, homes, community centres and even a police station.

In the reply to an RTI application filed by Rohit Sabharwal and Arvind Sharma, LIT admits that the highly controversial site of community centre in J-Block, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar — Ludhiana Newsline had reported about it on December 12 — has been "actually encroached".

The prime land sites which are encroached are situated in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Moti Nagar, Model Town Extension, Balmiki Nagar and on Tajpur road.

Out of the total 37,752 square yards of the area encroached, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar accounts for the maximum encroached area of 15,696 square yards, as per the RTI information.

While 3,490 square yards are encroached by a gurdwara, temple and school in Balmiki Nagar, 29,040 square yards are under illegal slums in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar.

As many as 1,120 square yards are encroached in Model Town Extension while two temples, a community centre, two parks and some residences have encroached LIT's maximum land (15,696 square yards) in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar's blocks A, E, F, G, I and L.

While 2,000 square yards are encroached on Tajpur road, a police station has also encroached upon 292 square yards of LIT under Dairy Scheme and 333 square yards are encroached by a gurdwara in Moti Nagar.

When contacted, Avtar Singh Azad, executive officer, LIT, said: "We asked for police help in clearing the land but the cops were very busy with VVIPs' visits in the past month. So we were unable to remove encroachments."

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