Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), with police assistance, has carried out a large-scale anti-encroachment drive in Waluj Industrial Estate, demolishing around 1,150 illegal structures, including 30 large reserved plots. To ensure these plots remain free from encroachment, MIDC has decided to build protective compound walls around them. Additional preventive measures will also be taken along roads to stop new encroachments.
As part of the city’s new Development Plan, the municipal corporation has already removed affected properties and roadside encroachments on major roads. In Waluj MIDC, encroachments had also spread onto footpaths, narrowing traffic lanes and obstructing movement. To address this, MIDC conducted a special drive on August 4 and 5, targeting 1,370 encroachments in total. Of these, 1,150 were cleared in just two days, with bulldozers used to remove all structures from the 30 large plots reserved for industrial purposes. Executive engineer Rameshchandra Giri said that proposals for constructing the protective walls will soon be sent to higher authorities for approval, after which construction work will commence. “The aim is to ensure that land mafias or illegal occupants do not reclaim these cleared areas,” he stated.
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Patrolling to increase
Giri also noted that roadside stalls had been a common issue in MIDC areas. While these have been removed, MIDC security guards will now conduct regular patrols to ensure encroachments do not return.