Under LDA’s nose, illegal buildings ‘flourish’

Unauthorised buildings in the state capital have put the spotlight on Lucknow Development Authority amid allegations of lack of proper monitoring and enforcement. Despite sealing orders during their construction stage, several structures were completed and sold to unsuspecting buyers before they were officially declared illegal.

In January last week, LDA served demolition notices on 81 such constructions following court orders, and residents were given 15 days to vacate. The issue was also reported by Hindustan Times on January 29. Currently, the matter is sub judice.

Recently, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court, while commenting on illegal buildings in the state capital, observed that the state authorities “are hand in glove with each other to give legitimacy to an unauthorised act strictly forbidden under the law”.

The issue poses a few questions: how do such structures get built despite the monitoring of LDA officials and why does the authority take definitive action only after these properties are sold?

In Dalibagh (which comes under LDA zone-6), a four-storey building was built in violation of the LDA regulations and building bylaws. While admitting that the building was illegal, LDA’s Shashi Bhushan Pathak, who was in charge of this zone until recently, could not cite any official notice served on the builder.

On Friday, LDA vice chairperson (VC) Prathamesh Kumar ordered inter-zonal transfers of its zonal in-charges. Among the officials who were transferred are Devansh Trivedi, Pathak, Ravi Nandan Singh, Atul Krishna Singh, Madhavesh Kumar, Prabhakar Singh, and Vipin Shivhare. These zonal in-charges are responsible for stopping, ensuring legal proceedings, and sealing or demolishing illegal structures.

Similarly, in Vibhuti Khand (zone-1), two buildings were sealed multiple times during their construction. Still, the works continued, and the buildings were readied over time. The zonal in-charge, Devansh Trivedi, said LDA had lodged complaints against the builder at the Vibhuti Khand police station.

In another case, builders, including Radhey Shyam Ojha, made over 50 houses, as part of a township on Bijnor Road (zone-2) near the airport, many of which were said to be flouting the bylaws. Zonal in-charge Atul Krishna Singh said the authority previously sealed over 15 houses in township, and that LDA had not approved any house or layout in the area.

Singh said multiple complaints were filed with the police to ensure routine checks on the sealed houses. He added on Tuesday 17 new constructions by the same builders were also sealed.

In response, Ojha said he had appealed against the LDA action in the court of the divisional commissioner. After rejection from there, he has now appealed against the move with the state government.

A source in LDA alleged a deep nexus between builders and LDA officials of the ranks junior and assistant engineers, who allow unauthorised constructions to thrive.

A senior LDA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cited some cases in which junior engineers did not claim to have received notices issued against builders. “In some cases, even after repeated complaints, construction does not stop, and the buildings reach completion under the very nose of LDA officials,” he added.

When contacted, LDA secretary Vivek Srivastava refused to comment on the issue. He had previously stated that actions would be taken against all constructions that came up in violation of regulations and norms.