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From: "Architexturez." <admin-in@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 18:30:53 +0530
Udaipur’s lakes of corruption
JAGAT S. MEHTA
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Posted online: Monday, October 03, 2005 at 0006 hours IST
In April this year, the Express broke a story on how Udaipur’s lakes
were being put up for sale. It was the Jheel Sarankshan Samiti (JSS), a
local NGO, and the local press that had first drawn public attention to
the fact that 50 to 60 small lakes were being readied for being
converted into housing colonies. The presumption of the property
developers was that the curse of drought or partial drought would
continue to visit Udaipur and lake locations would be conveniently
forgotten. Apparently the local Town Planner’s establishment, in
connivance with the Urban Improvement Trust, had quietly categorised the
“talab petas” in the Udaipur master plan as playgrounds/parks and, then
using article 90/B of the Land Revenue Act, reclassified them as
construction sites. The Supreme Court had unambiguously decreed that
“talab petas” cannot be built upon but, once re-categorised, further
“improvement” became feasible and the plots could be auctioned. The
gains would be astronomical for partners in this nefarious game
cont'd...
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=79276