“It is confirmed that the land belongs to the government. However, we are not going to demolish the madrasa or any other pucca structure on the land,” LDA secretary said. (Representational) “It is confirmed that the land belongs to the government. However, we are not going to demolish the madrasa or any other pucca structure on the land,” LDA secretary said. (Representational)

Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, an Islamic institution, and the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) are locked in a dispute over ownership of a land under Chowk police station area. Besides, the Islamic institution has also accused the LDA of trying to demolish a madrasa built there, an allegation the civic body has denied.

“LDA officials came here on August 29 to demolish the madrasa Mazharul Islam as, according to them, it is situated on a government land. We received a notice in this regard on August 14. However, they couldn’t raze the structure as people from the locality assembled at the spot to prevent them from doing it,” said Dr Shoaib Qureshi, a member of both the working committee and the executive panel of the Ulama. He claimed that the land was purchased by the Ulama through six registries between 1982 and 1991. The madrasa was built in 2005 after the map for the same was passed by the LDA, Qureshi said.

“The land was originally owned by four brothers, one of whom went to Pakistan in 1965. In 1982, we first purchased one-fourth of the land and subsequently the rest by 1991. The next year, a primary school was constructed on the land and then a small madrasa was established. In 2005, after the map was passed by the LDA, the madrasa Mazharul Islam was built. At present, we have two buildings with hostel and library facilities spread over 20,000 sq ft. The rest of the land houses an abandoned factory and makeshift houses where people live,” Qureshi said.

When contacted, LDA secretary Mangala Prasad Singh denied the allegations. “It is confirmed that the land belongs to the government. However, we are not going to demolish the madrasa or any other pucca structure on the land. We only have to construct a boundary wall in the empty space for some government work. Only those living in makeshift houses will be removed. In fact, many of them have already shifted,” Singh said.

The LDA secretary, however, alleged that the no objection certificate for the map was managed by the applicant in an unethical way with the help of some civic body officials. Action will be taken against the erring employees, he added. He said that they have already talked to the people and assured them that no demolition would take place.

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