TMC MP Yusuf Pathan served with notice to remove encroachments on VMC land in Vadodara

VADODARA,GUJARAT: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has sent a notice to Yusuf Pathan, a former Indian cricketer and freshly elected Trinamool Congress party MP from the Behrampore Lok Sabha seat, asking him to remove encroachments from a site owned by the VMC in Tandalja within 15 days. Pathan is compelled to depart the plot by the specified deadline or face demolition by VMC.

The plot, which is 987 square meters (10,623 square feet), is located in Tandalja TP Scheme No. 22 and is zoned for residential use. Yusuf and Irfan Pathan wanted to buy this site to expand their nearby property into a luxury bungalow with gardens and facilities.

Yusuf Pathan filed an application with the Municipal Corporation to acquire the site in March 2012. The proposal, which recommended allotting the land to Pathan at a special rate for residential purposes, was developed with the approval of the then Municipal Commissioner Ashwinikumar. It was then presented in a standing committee meeting headed by Dr. Vijay Shah on March 30, 2012, and received unanimous approval. Following this, the motion was adopted at a general body meeting on June 8, 2012, chaired by Dr. Jyotiben Pandya.

The upset value of the site was fixed at Rs 57,270 per square metre, for a total value of Rs 5.60 crore. Later, the state government rejected the request to assign the plot to Yusuf Pathan, but the land was encroached upon. The encroachment went unreported by VMC officials for years, but the VMC has now instructed Pathan to comply within the time frame specified, otherwise the encroachment would be demolished.