Stop land grabbing of ponds

The Allahabad High Court has directed all the district authorities to ensure that existing ponds in their jurisdictions did not fall prey to land grabbing and be used for construction or other activities. The court passed the order while hearing a PIL related to filling up of ponds in Agra for construction purposes allegedly due to connivance of officials and private developers. The court has fixed September 10 as the next date of hearing. Passing the order on Thursday, a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Amitava Lala and Justice P K S Baghel said: "A PIL cannot be restricted to a district. A copy of this order be circulated by the state to all the district authorities so that no land grabbing etc by converting ponds will be allowed and if such action is initiated, that will be stopped till further order is passed by this court." The court also sought a status report within two weeks from the Agra DM about the filled up ponds besides those which continue to exist and the ones that have virtually been filled up.

Mahakumbh: Widen roads before beautification

Allahabad: The High Court on Friday directed the Public Works Department and other agencies involved in improving the roads in the city for Mahakumbh to first complete widening roads and then go for constructing dividers or beautifying the intersections. The court passed the directions while hearing a PIL related to abatement of pollution in river Ganga. The order was passed a division bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Arun Tandon, which is hearing the PIL. "The court also took note of various issues relating to Mahakumbh set for January-February-2013," said amicus curiae in the matter A K Gupta.

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