Land allotted for village heads' training centre lying vacant for 50 years

Social reformer Jayprakash Narayan worked tirelessly for years to secure land for the All India Panchayat Parishad — an autonomous organisation for Panchayati Raj bodies across the country — to construct a training and research centre for village heads. Finally in 1966, a 7.5-acre piece of land in east Delhi's Mayur Vihar was allotted to the body, only to be left desolate for 50-odd years.

"At the time JP was the chairperson of the Parishad, he wanted to built a training centre for elected Sarpanches (village heads) from across the country. He wanted to name it after late Balwant Rai Mehta, the architect of Panchayati Raj. But due to Parishad's long tussle with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for this land, his dream is still unfulfilled," Parishad Executive Secretary Divakar Dubey said.

Commenting on the curious case of this huge piece of land lying unused in a city where more than 50,000 people are homeless, Dubey said: "Every state has its own Panchayat research and training centre. We want one here as well. Besides, we want to build a guest house and a hostel for Panchayat people, so that they can stay here whenever they come for a conference or a gathering. But the DDA has been creating unnecessary trouble for us."

In 1996, the DDA claimed that the land was under their possession. "In a letter to the Parishad, the DDA stated that they had the possession of the plot. But it was allotted to us on a lease of 99 years by the Patparganj Gram Sabha in 1966. So, we filed a case of encroachment against DDA in the Delhi High Court," said Dubey, who has been working with the organisation for the last 50 years.

"The High Court not only slammed the DDA for its false claims but also made it clear that the land belonged to the Parishad. Then four years ago, the court directed us to contact the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi for denotification of the land. Since then, the file has been pending at the LG's office," he added.

On being queried about the status of the file, he said: "We met the LG several times during this course of time to bring the matter to his notice but nothing concrete happened. Now, we have to seek an appointment with the new LG and brief him about everything from the beginning. Imagine how many village heads would have been trained in recent technology, if the centre was build on time."

At present, the land has a small office-like set-up for the Parishad and a guest house built by the organisation in 1983. "We couldn't build anything more as the DDA barred us from doing anything," Dubey rued.

According to some Parishad officials, it has been a difficult task to save the land from the clutches of land mafias. "This big chunk of land has attracted several land mafias over the years. Some people have even tried to sell the plot on different occasions," an official said.

Meanwhile, the land has become a popular venue for wedding ceremonies and other parties. In 2011, residents of the neighbouring Supreme apartments filed a case before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the Parishad, regarding noise pollution created by loudspeakers, DJs, and music systems during parties and wedding ceremonies being organised at its premises."It had become so difficult for us to survive that loud music. Now, after the complaint was registered, the situation is under control," said Rahul Yadav, a resident of Supreme Apartments.

The Parishad, however, said it takes care of all measures to ensure a peaceful atmosphere in the locality. "We don't want to create any problems in the area. All we want is to get a clearance to build our research and training centre," an official said.