Local BJP MLA Ved Prakash Gupta, Municipal Mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay and former Milkipur BJP MLA Gorakhnath Baba are included in this list.
While ADA vice-chairman Vishal Singh confirmed that the authority has released the list on Sunday, both Gupta and Upadhyay have denied the charges against them and threatened to prosecute the authority’s officials for defamation.
“We have so far identified 40 places as illegally developed colonies. However, the number could be much higher. We are working to make Ayodhya a clean and corruption-free city so that it becomes a world-class city. to be ready for.” VC Singh told The Times of India.
The price of land in the temple town has increased manifold after it became a hot spot for religious tourists in view of the Supreme Court’s November 2019 order in favor of construction of Ram temple. Last year there were allegations of illegal land transactions and opposition parties had also accused the temple trust of being involved in these deals.
Though the trust denied its association with any such deal, the ADA has now come up with a list of illegal colonies. Faizabad BJP MP Lallu Singh also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last month, demanding an SIT probe against the ‘land mafia’ operating in Ayodhya.
Singh wrote in his letter, “The land mafia in Ayodhya is so powerful that they have created illegal plots on government Nazul land and even on river banks. They are misleading the people and plotting at exorbitant rates. Selling it only in the name of Ayodhya.” Letter.
The MP has also demanded action against some “former government officials” of Ayodhya for their involvement in the corruption of illegal land deals.
Responding to senior party leaders’ inclusion in the list of illegal colonizers, Ayodhya BJP spokesperson Rajnish Singh said: “No one, irrespective of their positions, will be spared. CM for all illegal works done in Ayodhya Will take strict action.”
BJP leader Mahant Raju Das, who is also the priest of Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya, has demanded a CBI inquiry against the land mafia in Ayodhya. He also said that the names of some government officials should also be in the list as they are also involved in illegal land transactions.
When TOI contacted MLA Ved Prakash Gupta and Mayor Hrishikesh Upadhyay, they said that all allegations against them were false, and they would send a legal notice to ADA for defamation.