Lucknow mega city: First, who owns the land?

Three days ago, Ansals issued an advertisement in a national daily inviting the public to buy plots/houses in their upcoming mega township on Sultanpur Road. The ad displayed a map to the mega city, and gave it a name, Sushant City. The Board yesterday replied back in kind. Its advertisement gave the same land map and said ‘‘it is the UP Housing Board which is going to construct the Mega City’’. It also warned the public it would book land or houses from private builders at this site at their own risk.

‘‘The selling of plots and houses in this notified land is illegal,’’ the advertisement said.

Housing Board Commissioner V.N. Garg refused to comment, saying he had nothing to say beyond what appeared in the advertisement yesterday.

It was on August 7, 2004, that the UP Housing Board issued the notification to acquire 4,500 acres of land next to the Amar Shaheed Express Highway—a 20-minute drive from the heart of the city, Hazratganj—under Section 28 of the UP Housing and Development Board Act, 1965.

Section 35 of the Act says: ‘‘When a notice has been published under Section 28 in respect of a housing scheme, no person shall, from the date of commencement, erect, re-erect, alter any building or otherwise develop any land in the area except in accordance with the scheme and subject to such restrictions and conditions as the Housing Commissioner may by order impose.’’

But Ansals purchased about 1,000 acres of land directly from farmers in the same notified area. They also sent a letter dated September 25 to the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) demanding government assistance and cooperation in development of their housing scheme.

Confirming they had bought the land, executive director, Ansals Properties and Industries Ltd, P.N. Mishra, said: ‘‘Notification under Section 28 has no meaning. The government has even agreed to land use conversion for the land that we have bought and the LDA has approved our map too. The UP Housing Board has so far not even applied for the conversion.’’

However, in reality, there is still a question mark over the status of the land. Ansals claim that they had applied to the government to change land use for 58 acres from agricultural to residential. Their argument: ‘‘There is not much space for residential purposes in the draft of Master Plan 2021, therefore this agriculture land should be converted for residential purposes.’’

On this basis, the LDA board had on October 11 agreed to conversion of the 58 acres from agricultural land to residential land. However, on November 18, the LDA board scrapped the draft Master Plan 2021, nullifying all changes. The land that Ansals is selling as Sushant City is still ‘agricultural’ as the change will come into effect only after the LDA is ready with its new Master Plan. While Ansals claims the government is on its side, the Board too had issued the notification for acquiring the land only after government approval.