Reason: the map of the building has not been cleared by the Rae Bareli Development Authority (RBDA).

The notice was served on the Trust on Tuesday evening and it was asked to stop construction till it received clearance from the authority.

The Trust has been working in Rae Bareli and Sultanpur districts for the last six years. Training youths to gain employment, organising training for women empowerment, and forming self-help groups are among its activities. The hostel was meant for the students of such training programmes.

According to the Congress, RBDA authorities had earlier said there was no need to approve the building map since the construction was taking place outside the city area.

“Mayawati is playing politics on a project related to Sonia Gandhi. When we had approached them for the approval of the map before starting construction, they had told us there was no need for such approval from the development authority,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, state Congress spokesperson.

He added that though the construction had begun in December, the RBDA had never raised any objection. “This showed they are unnecessarily trying to stop development projects in and around the district. The Mayawati government has put up hurdles for around 14 development projects in Rae Bareli and Amethi,” Singh said.

A BSP spokesperson, however, refuted the allegations. “The Congressmen are not aware of facts. The village where the hostel was being built falls under RBDA. Trust secretary Manoj Mattu, in a letter to the authority on February 7, had admitted that they did not get the building map approved,” he said.

“The Trust had then requested for compounding of the construction and asked for a week’s time to submit the necessary papers,” he added.

Alok Kumar, secretary in-charge of RBDA, said: “We have served a notice to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust to immediately stop construction work on the site. We served the notice as soon as we came to know about the construction work.”