A BSHB plot at Hanuman Nagar in Patna. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Feb. 2: Bihar State Housing Board (BSHB) would soon conduct a survey to find out if its land earmarked for public utility establishments, including education and health institutions, at Hanuman Nagar, Kankerbagh and Lohia Nagar have been encroached upon and assess the possibility of building government schools on them.

The decision to conduct the survey was taken after Patna High Court observed yesterday that there was a requirement of conducting a probe into the usage of the BSHB’s land in the said areas for development of education establishments. The court observed that the BSHB should examine if its plots were encroached upon. It also asked the board to remove encroachment, if any, in four weeks.

“We have not received any official intimation from the honourable high court yet, but we will soon start conducting a survey of our land in Hanuman Nagar, Kankerbagh and Lohia Nagar colonies earmarked for development of schools. We will also check into the mater of encroachment on such plots and take necessary action,” said a senior official of the BSHB.

Earlier, against the submission of petitioner Ashok Kumar Sinha regarding the development of public utility establishments on plots in the housing board’s colonies at Hanuman Nagar, Kankerbagh and Lohia Nagar, a division bench headed by Justice T. Meena Kumari observed that the BSHB counsel should look into the possibility of setting up schools on them.

Amar Dev Singh, the counsel of the BSHB, said: “The housing board had earlier invited applications from private educational institutions for setting up schools on its plots with a necessary stipulation of recommendation from the state education department. The proposals from none of the applicants were recommended by the state education department and they were rejected. The application money was refunded. Under such circumstances, the court has asked the board to explore the possibility of setting up government schools on such plots. Also, upon submission of alleged encroachment problem over the plots, the division bench verbally asked me to enquire into the matter and if found true, then remove the encroachers within four weeks and submit a report.”

A proposal regarding the redevelopment of Hanuman Nagar, Kankerbagh and Lohia Nagar as mini-townships comprising primary schools, health centres and community halls among multi-storeyed residential apartments has been submitted by the board to state cabinet for approval. “The board is already in the process of redeveloping its assets into modern self-sustained mini-townships comprising primary health centres, primary schools, malls having multiplexes and community halls. The architectural design for the proposed mini- township has been prepared by our 10 empanelled architects, including Hafeez Contractor, Sen and Lall, CP Kukreja, Sajay Puri and Feedback Ventures among others. We are waiting for the approval of the cabinet for going ahead with the project,” said an official of the BSHB.