The officials began with seizing the generator sets of the towers.

The court of UT Land Acquisition Officer Hargunjit Kaur, in an order pronounced on July 2, 2007, had directed the companies that had erected the towers to restore the site to its original state and remove the constructions raised on the agricultural land in Kaimbwala village.

The order said the land on which the towers were raised had been declared “controlled area” in the revenue records.

After the companies did not pull down the towers on their own, the team of officials from the UT Estate Office decided to launch a drive for the same.

Besides seizing two generators, the officials also demolished the concrete structures raised around the towers.

When the officials of the Estate Office were trying to remove various equipment before seizing the base transceiver system (BTS) cabin, the officials of GTL Infrastructure Limited and Indus Limited reached the site after which the Estate Office team gave them time to remove the equipment on their own.

While Hargunjit Kaur, exercising the powers of the Deputy Commissioner Chandigarh under the Periphery Control Act, 1952, had directed them to demolish the unauthorised construction immediately, the Estate Office took six months to comply with the order.

“We had requested the companies concerned time and again to remove the towers, which were erected in violation of the Periphery Control Act. They, however, failed to do so. Finally, we decided to remove these towers ourselves. The site will be cleared by Friday afternoon,” said Hargunjit Kaur

Initially, three cell towers were raised behind Sukhna Lake, of which one tower providing the services of BSNL was removed a month ago. Two other towers, providing the services of Airtel and Vodafone, were not removed, said Ashok Kumar, Chief Inspector (Enforcement) UT Estate Office, who had led the drive.