LUCKNOW, May 1 -- The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has decided to impose annual penalties on those property owners in the state capital who have taken possession of the land but left it vacant without even constructing boundary walls for over five years, officials said.

Development authority secretary Vivek Srivastava confirmed that the LDA Board has previously approved an annual penalty of Rs.2.5 per square foot for such cases. For instance, the owner of a 2,200 square-feet plot will have to pay Rs.5,500 every year until construction begins or a plot is secured with a boundary wall.

The move comes following rising complaints from residents living near vacant LDA plots, many of which have either turned into garbage dumps or have ...