Indian Express 15.02.2010
Litigations force govt to drop parking lot plan for Ramabai Sthal
Lalmani Verma Tags : parking, government Posted: Monday , Feb 15, 2010 at 0441 hrs
Lucknow: The state government has dropped the plan to develop a parking lot for the Ramabai Ambedkar Rally Sthal on Bijnore Road after the project was held up following several petitions filed against it in the Allahabad High Court.The Lucknow Development Authority will now develop housing schemes on the 117-acre land that is spread in two villages — Auarangabad Khalsa and Aurangabad Jageer.
The government issued a notification for acquisition of the land in September, 2008, and soon over 50 petitions were filed before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court challenging the government’s move. The petitioners also appealed for a stay on the demolition of residential and institutional buildings in the area.
The government’s Chief Standing Counsel D K Upadhyay said the High Court’s order for maintaining status quo continues and the matter is still sub judice. The High Court questioned the state government on the utility of the proposed parking lot considering that only a few political rallies would be held in a year. “An application will soon be submitted in the High Court, seeking permission for the development of a housing scheme here,” said LDA vice-chairman Mukesh Kumar Meshram.
After permission from the High Court, the LDA will place a proposal in this regard before the LDA Board, Meshram added.
“The housing scheme will be developed to prevent encroachment and land grabbing by private developers,” said Meshram.
The plan has been changed because two parking lots were recently developed close to the Ramabai Ambedkar Rally Sthal. These include: the parking lot developed on 30 acres in Sector-9 under the Vrindavan scheme of the UP Housing and Development Board for vehicles arriving from Faizabad Road, Sultanpur Road and Rae Bareli Road; and the parking lot developed adjacent to the rally sthal that will accommodate vehicles arriving from Kanpur Road and Hardoi Road.
