Gurugram: Over 1,500 illegal shops, hutments removed from HSVP land

The Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran on Tuesday demolished around 1,500 temporary shops and hutments that were illegally constructed on three acres of government land near Golf Course Road in Nathupur, officials said. Another four acres of land in the same area will be cleared from encroachments on Wednesday and Thursday, they said.

The demolition was carried out amid strong resistance by the shop owners and occupants of hutments, said the officials.

Sandeep Lot, junior engineer, HSVP, said that the enforcement team reached the area around 11am and the occupants were given one hour to remove their belongings but they started a protest. “A police team, which accompanied the enforcement team, brought the situation under control, after which the earth moving machines were pressed into service and the land was cleared from encroachment,” he said.

Lot said that the encroachers were also issued a warning that if they tried to encroach the government land again, then FIRs would be registered against them.

HSVP officials said that occupants of illegal shops and hutments in the remaining four-acre land have been asked to vacate the area.

The land in Nathupur village, officials said, was acquired in 2009 and compensation was paid to the owners. After clearing the encroachments, the department of town and country planning would be asked to plan for commercial utilization of this valuable land, they added.

For the past few months, the HSVP has embarked on a drive to clear its land from encroachments so that it can be sold for commercial and residential development by private players. The authority has been facing a financial crunch and has decided to monetise its assets across the state.