Dehradun: : The Indian Army has raised objections to a private builder’s plan to construct a shopping mall on land adjacent to the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun, writing to the district magistrate (DM), the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) and other authorities concerned, questioning “how the project was granted permission without a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the IMA”.TOI has a copy of the Army’s letters dated Feb 3 and 4, in which it cited established norms governing construction near defense land and establishments. The letters also mentioned an advertisement for the proposed project issued by the builders — Shivam Builders and Developers — in a local Hindi daily on Jan 31.“The proposal is in contravention of existing policy guidelines, particularly those related to construction in proximity to defense land and the mandatory requirement of obtaining prior clearance/NOC from the local military authority (LMA),” the letter stated. It also referred to ministry of defense (MoD) guidelines, which say that there should be no construction of a single-storey building within 100m of defense land and no construction of a four-storey building within 500m.Terming the proposed building “illegal”, the letter asked MDDA, which gives permission for such projects, to clarify the authority under which the building plan for the project was approved. It also raised several queries, including whether the distance criteria of 100m and 500m from defense land were duly examined and complied with prior to granting approval; whether prior NOC/clearance from the LMA was obtained before approval of the building plan; and whether the approval was granted after due consideration of MoD guidelines.On Wednesday, soon after news of the Army’s objections became public, the MDDA rejected the application by Shivam Builders and Developers seeking construction approval. “It was rejected after the MDDA took cognizance of the objections raised by the Army over the planned project. Prior to this, the applicant was given two months to obtain the NOC from the IMA but failed to do so. Hence, the building map was also rejected,” Bansidhar Tiwari, vice-chairperson of MDDA, told. TOI on Thursday.When contacted, Rajendra Aggarwal, managing director of Shivam Builders and Developers, which had planned the project ‘Doon Curve’ near IMA in the Panditwadi area, claimed that they had “followed all norms”. “We had visited IMA officials and the Uttarakhand sub-area for the NOC but did not receive any response. We had only got the map of the Rs 35 crore project approved by the MDDA and were yet to start construction on the 4,445 sq yards of land. As there was no reply or objection from Army authorities, we assumed they had no issues with it. We have followed all due process, which is on record with the authorities concerned,” Aggarwal said.However, an Army officer privy to the development, who confirmed the letters sent to the authorities, told TOI on condition of anonymity that “the Army does not respond to queries from private parties but only flags them to the authorities concerned.”“No response from the Army does not imply consent for such illegal construction. We had raised objections with the relevant authorities for necessary action,” the officer said, adding that the proposed building “would have posed a serious security risk for cadets, including foreign trainees at the IMA.”
