Mega demolition drive targets 700 illegal structures along Sabarmati riverbank in Gandhinagar

The drive was launched at around 4 am in the Pethapur area by the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC), the state Roads and Buildings department and local police in the Gujarat capital, said District Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty.

Ahmedabad: The Gandhinagar civic administration and other authorities launched a mega demolition drive in the wee hours of Thursday to clear encroachments on 1 lakh square metres of government land along the Sabarmati riverbank, said a senior police official.

Nearly 700 illegal structures were identified for demolition in the Gujarat capital and around 150 of them were razed by afternoon, he said.

"A demolition drive to clear nearly 700 illegal structures built on government land along the Sabarmati riverbank is in progress under the supervision of 20 teams of R&B and GMC. We have deployed 700 policemen, including officers, to support them," the District Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty, told reporters.

Till afternoon, nearly 150 illegally built houses and shops were brought down, while work is in progress to clear remaining encroachments, stated the police officer.

"The total area of the encroached land comes to around 1 lakh square metres having a market value of Rs 1,000 crore. We are hopeful the anti-encroachment drive will be over in two to three days," added Vasamsetty.