The Indian Army has denied permission for the construction of a hotel in Ayodhya’s Ghatampur village, saying the land was reserved as a buffer zone in a firing range.
This is the first such denial by the Army after the Allahabad High Court ordered the Ayodhya Development Authority in September last year to seek no-objection certificates from the Army for construction in 13 villages, including Ghatampur. The court order came months after the bench had imposed a blanket ban on approval of maps for construction activity in the area.
Satendra Singh, ADA secretary, told Newslaundry that around four applications for approval of construction in the notified area had been sent to the Army. The application for the construction of Hotel Ridansh Royal Retreat in particular had been sent on December 4 last year, and rejected on January 30 this year. “This is one of the first to be rejected. The remaining are pending,” he said.
Newslaundry had earlier reported how the Ayodhya Development Authority had neither informed nor consulted the Army before denotifying land in another village called Majha Jamtara. Majha Jamtara had earlier been notified along with these 13 villages as a buffer zone in 2021 until July 2025 for the Army’s artillery exercises. The court is yet to decide on the merits of the denotification process.
All this land was notified by the UP governor to keep “common citizens safe from any untoward incidents during firing” under Section 9(2) of the Manoeuvres Field Firing and Artillery Practice Act of 1938. Sources had said that when notified, the buffer zone land is managed by the revenue department, and its use is limited to agriculture, and no permanent structure can be built on it.
Meanwhile, the court’s order about the requirement of Army approval in 13 villages and the ADA’s decision about denotifying Maja Jamthara has left several disappointed about the scope of Ayodhya’s real estate boom.
Vipin Singh, a hotel owner who wanted to expand his hotel Trimurti in Ghatampur, is one of them. In 2023, the ADA had also approved the expansion, but it was stalled after the court made an NOC compulsory for construction in the notified area.
“According to the ADA master plan, Adani’s land is ecologically sensitive whereas my land is commercial. But the government has denotified Majha Jamtara where anyway construction cannot be allowed…they should have denotified commercial land. So, now we are going to make a proposal to the DM soon to denotify other villages as well.”
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