Bulldozers will no longer operate in Lucknow’s Pantnagar.
Lucknow is the capital of Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s official residence and office is also here. His bulldozer action is the talk of the whole state, but in Lucknow his bulldozer stopped where he is sitting. The bulldozer action was stopped by none other than Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself. Kukrel Riverfront is to be constructed in Lucknow. For this, the houses near the Kukrel river are being demolished. 1,200 houses have been leveled in Akbarnagar, but he had to turn back when his bulldozer reached Pantnagar. Let’s know what is the inside story of bulldozer not running in Pantnagar?
The people of Pantnagar, Khurramnagar, Indraprasthanagar and Abrarnagar, which come after Akbarnagar in the Kukrel Riverfront area, were upset with the red signs put up on their houses as illegal. People started protesting this. 1,200 houses were destroyed in Akbarnagar. Now it was the turn of bulldozers to run in Pantnagar, Khurramnagar, Indraprasthanagar and Abrarnagar. More than two thousand houses were marked with red marks here.
Kukrel, a tributary of Gomti river
Lucknow district administration said that Kukarel is a tributary of river Gomti. Now its radius of 50 meters is being declared as flood plain zone and the construction done in it is being declared illegal. In Lucknow, 1,200 houses were first demolished on grounds of illegality in Akbarnagar. This was followed by the demolition of 2,000 houses in four areas of Pantnagar, Khurramnagar, Indraprasthanagar and Abrarnagar. Red marks were also put on these houses by the district administration.
600 hill families of Pantnagar stopped the bulldozer!
As people feared that they too would suffer the same fate as Akbarnagar, 600 hill families of Pantnagar diverted the government bulldozers by taking the hill angle. Pantnagar has around 600 families who have settled in Lucknow from Kumaon in Uttarakhand. He told his problem to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He said he has been living here for the past 50 years. They are regularly fulfilling all norms including paying house tax, electricity bill, water tax.
The appeal of the people of Uttarakhand worked
Sources say that since Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is from Uttarakhand, the emotional appeal to the people of Pantnagar worked. This was the reason why the bulldozer started slowing down by the time it reached Pantnagar. Along with Pantnagar, about 60 percent of the Hindu population lives in Abrarnagar, Indraprasthanagar and Khurram Nagar. These are the two main reasons being given for withdrawing the government’s decision. In order to de-pollution and revive the river Kukrel, the flood plain area of the river was recently identified by the Irrigation Department as per the orders of the NGT.
This action is being taken as per National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Notification-2016. Two Kukrel river plains have been identified. First, river bed and second flood plain area. The river bed is approximately 35 m wide and the flood plain area up to 50 m from the river bank has been identified by the Irrigation Department. At present the hills of Pantnagar have saved more than two thousand houses from destruction.
The information has been given by tweeting from the Chief Minister’s Office
Recently, a tweet from the CM’s office said, “Be it Pantnagar or Indraprastha Nagar in Lucknow, the safety and satisfaction of every resident here is our responsibility. Families affected by the Kukrel river rejuvenation project should be reassured. There was no justification for marking private houses. Those who do so will be held accountable. The authorities concerned have been directed to meet the people of the area to address their fears and confusion and to develop public facilities there.”
“The flood plain zone has been marked as per the orders/rules issued by the NGT. It also includes private land. Currently there is neither need nor proposal to vacate this area. No issue of demolition of private buildings built in this area is under consideration. “No new construction will be done in the flood plain in future without the permission of NMCG.”
