Mhow (Madhya Pradesh): A large number of illegal buildings have come up on the land belonging to the Defence Estate office in and around Mhow cantonment. The Defence Estate office is the custodian of the whole land belonging to the army, which is not directly controlled by Army authorities and this department comes under the Ministry of Defence.
Last week, the team from the Defence Estate office reached bungalows 49 and 50 near Simrol Road and demolished two buildings that were being constructed on land belonging to the Army.
The subject land falls under Gardens and Bungalows allotted under an old grant scheme during British rule to various people at that time. The lease duration of those land areas have long ceased to exist.
Defence Estate Officer Sapan Kumar told the media that his team was regularly getting information about illegal Constructions on simrol road, on which a team was sent there to serve notices to the people who were trying to encroach the land belonging to the Army.
Despite notices being served, the owners did not stop the work and kept constructing their structure without any fear from the Army authorities. On this, a team from the Defence Estate office along with police and local administration reached the area and demolished the illegal structure on Monday afternoon.
It is to be noted that about 1,000 houses and business establishments have come up in Khan Colony, Gulab Nagar Kanchan Vihar, Mehta ki Chaal, Sharab Godam, Simrol Road, Vaidya Colony and all adjoining areas of Simrol road but no action has been taken against them and the houses are continuously being constructed on the said land.
On this issue, when DEO Sapan Kumar was asked, he said that such Big demolition drives need strong administrative and police support and his office is continuously writing to the local police for providing support but police authorities are not giving police force to them for the work.
