Ujjain, Nov 5 (IANS) The Ujjain Development Authority (UDA) on Wednesday carried out another round of an anti-encroachment drive in the city’s Begum Bagh locality, demolishing 12 buildings for violating land-use norms, an official said.

According to the UDA, all the demolished structures had been declared illegal as the leases of the plots had been cancelled several years ago.

Begum Bagh is a Muslim-majority residential colony under the jurisdiction of the Mahakal police station in Ujjain, the home district of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

Officials said the land was originally allotted for establishing a residential colony. However, the allottees had used the plots for commercial purposes, which violated the terms of the lease. Moreover, the leases for these plots expired in 2014-15 and were never renewed.

The demolition drive was conducted jointly by the Ujjain Development Authority and the Ujjain Municipal Corporation (UMC) in the presence of administrative and police officials.

Ujjain Development Authority CEO Sandeep Soni said the area where the demolition took place was part of a residential scheme launched by the UDA in 1985, known as the Mahakal Hari Pathak residential plan.

“The UDA had allotted these plots for housing purposes, but over time, illegal constructions came up and the plots were used for commercial activities, which was against the norms,” Soni told reporters during the demolition operation.

He further said that originally 28 plots were leased under the 1985 scheme, but around 65 structures were eventually built on them.

Notably, this was the third anti-encroachment drive in the Begum Bagh locality since June this year. The Ujjain Development Authority had earlier demolished 28 buildings during drives carried out in June and August.

Ujjain is one of the major cities of Madhya Pradesh and serves as both the administrative and religious centre of the Ujjain district as well as the state’s Ujjain division.

The city holds prominence as one of the Sapta Puri — the seven sacred pilgrimage sites in Hinduism — and is renowned for hosting the Kumbh Mela (Simhastha) every 12 years.

It is also home to the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga, one of the twelve revered Jyotirlinga shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva.

–IANS

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