BAREILLY: As part of an anti-encroachment drive, the
defence estate officer (DEO) of
Bareilly circle, Pramod Singh, reached Ganesh Ghat village in
Moradabad district on Thursday to retrieve 33 acres land of military camping ground from encroachers. The DEO said this land was given on lease to three
ex-servicemen for two years, but they didn’t vacate it after the lease period expired in 2014.
The DEO said that with the help of the district administration, they took the land in their possession and auctioned the standing wheat crop. “Three ex-servicemen – Ajit Singh, Iqbal Singh and Meet Singh – had been ploughing the 33.84 acre land which is part of military camping ground. The land was given to them on lease only for two years. After the lease period expired, we served them several notices, but they didn’t vacate the
defence land which is situated at a prime location adjacent to national highway-24.”
On Thursday morning, the DEO reached the site along with a quick response team (QRT) of Local Military Authority’s (LMA) 883 Battalion to evacuate the land. “They came to know about our plan on Wednesday night so they started harvesting the crop in the night. The tehsildar of the area, Sunita Singh, immediately informed us and we intimated Moradabad district magistrate Rakes Kumar Singh. A police team was sent there to save the crop,” the DEO said.
Tehsildar Sunita Singh said, “We have successfully auctioned 340 quintals of wheat crop to the highest bidder against Rs 5.5 lakh. Now, the land’s possession has been handed over to the DEO.”
Defence estate officials said that soon they would remove the borewell installed at the land so that illegal farming cannot take place there.
“To ensure that no one can encroach upon the land in future, we are going to set up an ex-servicemen contributory health scheme (ECHS) policlinic there that will serve the ex-servicemen and their families in Moradabad and Rampur. Besides, we have asked the divisional forest officer to carry out plantation on the land,” the DEO added.
