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Journalism of Courage
A massive demolition drive has been underway in Gujarat for the last week, with bulldozers tearing down illegally-constructed homes, offices, shops and other establishments on the state police’s list of “anti-social elements”.
This follows the March 15 directive by the Director-General of Police (DGP) Vikas Sahay to all police stations in the state to draw up lists of “anti-social” elements, and collaborate with civic administrations to “punish” these elements.
Behind the current demolition drive
The move follows violence in Ahmedabad’s Vastral area on the night of March 13, which left three injured. Fourteen persons, including a minor, were arrested a day later.
An AMC official told The Indian Express that a list of the 14 accused was provided to the civic body. “On the directions of the state police, the civic body verified and found out that out of 14 accused, six had unauthorised residential constructions”. These were demolished on March 15.
On March 17, Chhotelal Tiwari, the grandfather of accused Pradeep Tiwari, approached the Gujarat High Court, seeking further time to respond to the demolition notice. In his petition, he said that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation had given only a notice of two days, while claiming that parts of their house was illegally constructed. The rules mandate a period of 15 days to reply to such a notice.
A day later, Government Pleader GH Virk agreed to this prayer, following which Justice Mauna M Bhatt dismissed the petition.
Until Friday (March 21), 77 illegal properties were either demolished or in process, and 200 power connections of those on the police list were disconnected, according to DGP Sahay.
Besides the demolitions, the punitive measures include disconnecting illegal electricity connections, cancelling their bail and tracking their bank transactions. The police have also booked “hardened” criminals under the The Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PASA) and are processing their externment.
Gujarat’s civic bodies have identified two types of illegal structures: Illegal additions to buildings on privately owned land, and illegal structures encroaching government-owned land. While the demolitions are immediate in the second case, those on private land take longer.
In Ahmedabad, the AMC demolished residential structures in Shankarpura na chhapra, belonging to an alleged bootlegger listed among the state’s top bootleggers and gambling offences by the State Monitoring Cell (SMC). The AMC officer overseeing the demolition said, “In this case, there was encroachment on a lake bed, and part of the land is also owned by the government. We gave them a day’s notice and then conducted the demolition.”
The officer said that a show cause notice is first issued under the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act (GPMC) to explain purported illegal construction on private land. A final notice would be issued one to two weeks later, depending on the situation and circumstances, according to the officer.
According to officials, in several cases, the AMC served notices to occupants before the police sent their list. However, the demolitions have been delayed. The current lists have helped to flag some of these instances. The house of a bootlegger, Kalu ‘Gardan’, was demolished on March 19 after his name was listed by the Vejalpur police station. Shankar Asari, the Deputy Estate Officer in SW Zone, said, “The premises were served notices long back, and there had also been an order from the High Court. But demolition was pending. So when the police sought help in the matter, we provided the requisite help in this case.”
As of March 19, 969 persons of the 8,374 identified statewide were named by Ahmedabad city police across its 49 police stations as repeat offenders for bootlegging, gambling offences, bodily harm, property-related offences, and mining mafia.
Properties under the scanner
Hitendra Makwana, AMC Estate Officer in-charge, told The Indian Express that the notice is served on the property and does not go to a person. “It can so happen that a previous owner may have made the illegal changes or it may be done by a tenant. We have nothing to do with that. We have to give the notice to the premises,” he said.
Premises thus identified could be dismantled by their resident to avoid attracting further penalties. Hema Shakya, the Deputy Estate Office of the North West Zone, said, “We found one property with illegal construction, and they were given notice before the police gave us their list. We will be giving them a second notice in a few days. However, in the meantime, they have begun dismantling the illegal portion themselves.”
Shakya added, “In this case, it is a commercial property given on lease to an architect. The lessee himself has done the illegal construction, so he is taking it down on his own. It may be so that 15 days later, we may not have to do anything at all.
The Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Act, passed in 2023, allows for unauthorised structures to be regularised by paying a fee. Under the law, a person who has illegally extended their property is required to give an undertaking to voluntarily demolish it and pay an ‘impact fee’, which is returned once the illegal part is demolished.
