Encroachments to be removed from Moti Jheel in Motihari

MOTIHARI: Several decisions have been taken for beautification of Moti Jheel and district magistrate Shirsat Kapil Ashok on Thursday directed the officials concerned to remove the encroachments soon.
Recently, chief secretary Amir Subhani reviewed the renovation and beautification of this lake and asked all the stakeholders and district magistrate for speedy work. Through a video conferencing, the chief secretary asked the DM to remove the encroachment from this water body immediately. Sources said 108 encroachments have been removed and 40 more have to be shifted and about the rest four, a case is going on in the high court.
Earlier, the double bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Partha Sarthy of Patna high court had ordered the chief secretary to convene a meeting with all officials concerned and place the records for hearing before the court on the next date. This came after the high court, while hearing a civil writ petition filed by Kumar Amit, an advocate of Patna High court and resident of Motihari. He had demanded the restoration of age-old Moti Jheel to its original status. Sources said the CS directed the DM to speed up the renovation work, including, desilting of lake, laying of pathway, proper lighting and setting of floating fountains for beatification of lake, along with the arrangement for changing rooms and toilets on the sides of the lake.
Spread over 400 acres of land, Moti Jheel is located in the heart of Motihari town and it divides the town in two parts. The ministry of environment, forest and climate change of Union government had approved a project of Rs 21 crore for renovation and beautification of this lake in 2016. Though a tender was published by the Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation in this regard earlier, the highest bidder of this tender did not appear. A fresh tender has been floated now.