LUCKNOW, Oct. 4 -- As things get more complicated for the Sahara group, the staff at Sahara Shahar in Gomti Nagar have claimed that the Roy family has left the premises. The development comes just days after the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) announced plans to get the premises vacated and begin a sealing drive there. "The Roy family left the premises. Their houses are shut, and their vehicles stand unused," Prashant Kumar Singh, who managed CCTV operations inside Sahara Shahar, told HT. Meanwhile, 50-60 employees still serving at Sahara Shahar said they have not been paid their salaries for a long time. Facing eviction, they called on municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar and sought more time to plan their next steps. "The employees met me and explained their condition. They also informed me that the Roy family had left. Considering their situation, I have allowed some extra time," Kumar confirmed, though he stressed that the sealing drive remains inevitable. "The land belongs to the government, and the action will go ahead. We have granted short relief to the employees, but sealing is unavoidable," Kumar reiterated. When an HT team on Friday visited the township, which used to house the residence of the late Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and his family members, it found the premises wearing a deserted look. As the agitated employees shut the large iron gates to press for the payment of salaries, only a small pedestrian gate remained operational. The protesting employees said they had taken the step so that no one could leave the premises. The employees had even snapped electricity and water supply in Sahara Shahar. The protesters included security guards, HR personnel, drivers and others. Prashant Singh told HT, "Now, there is no one left to even respond to us." "We welded the gates to keep the property secure. We are still loyal to the place where we worked for years, but we have no future here," Singh explained. "We are not fighting the LMC. Our only demand is that we be paid for the years we worked here. Someone must take responsibility," he added. "We are not against the government reclaiming its land, but our problem is different-who pays us now?" asked Harish Ram, a protesting employee. The LMC had earlier set an October 1 deadline for Sahara to vacate 170 acres of disputed land. Officials, accompanied by police, had reached the site on Wednesday to begin the process, but temporarily halted action after corporate staff requested a short reprieve to remove belongings. The civic body reclaimed the land on September 27 after a probe revealed multiple violations of lease agreements and licence conditions. A seven-member inquiry committee, formed on September 4, examined court orders and legal records before concluding that Sahara "wrongfully" attempted to claim government land as its own. Based on its findings, the LMC cancelled the licence for 130 acres designated for residential and commercial development and revoked the lease of another 40 acres marked as a green belt. On September 28, LMC teams installed warning boards across the land. Additional municipal commissioner Namrata Singh said the boards were meant to prevent further encroachment. Assistant municipal commissioner Rameshwar Prasad called the October 1 deadline a "final warning."...