The Hindu : National : Gayatri Devi on dharna against land mafia

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Gayatri Devi on dharna against land mafia

Special Correspondent

The former Queen Mother, 89, resents encroachment of land meant for park

— Photo: Gopal Sunger

BATTLING ODDS: Rajmata Gayatri Devi (right) on a dharna in front of her Royal Palace “Moti Doongri” in Jaipur on Wednesday.

JAIPUR: Vexed over attempts at encroaching upon the land donated by her for the development of a public park, the former Queen Mother of Jaipur Gayatri Devi on Wednesday sat on a dharna with the residents of the Sanjay Nagar slum cluster located near the Moti Doongri Fort here. Once among the world’s most beautiful women, Gayatri Devi, sat for half an hour in the token protest before her well-wishers could persuade her to give up.

The former Queen Mother’s desperate act at the ripe age of 89 came after her letter to the local police station in January this year did not evoke response from the authorities.

She had complained to the Moti Doongri police that a boundary wall was being illegally built on the land belonging to the Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh Benevolent Trust of which she is the chairperson. A land mafia was in operation in the area with the connivance of some officials of the Jaipur Development Authority, she had alleged.

Donated

“These anti-social elements broke down the existing boundary wall and cut down green trees. They also took away the Trust signboard. The heritage of the hill was completely destroyed. I have given this land to the Government of Rajasthan [Chief Minister] to maintain as green area for Jaipur people,” said the letter written on January 25 by her.

In fact, Ms. Devi wrote to the Secretaries of the Forest and Urban Development in May 2004 asking them to stop construction on this land and to convert it into a green area.

“I would be grateful if you could look into the matter and save this land from being encroached upon by the land mafia and make a park,” her latest letter said. The land where the Sanjay Nagar slum settlement is located once belonged to the royal family and most of the residents there now are former staff of the royal household.

The place is of both historical and sentimental importance as Moti Doongri used to be her abode before she shifted to the present residence, Lily Pool, hardly 2 km away, on the Sawai Ram Singh Road. Apart from Sanjay Nagar, two more colonies — Ganesh Nagar Basti and Gujjar Basti — too exist on the 12-bigha land below the Moti Doongri Hills overlooking the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg. Construction activities are banned on the land following two court orders.

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