The River Gomti is a prominent perennial river, sourced from a groundwater fed lake, gushing through the heavily populated and influential urban centres of Uttar Pradesh. With the population exploding in numbers, demand for natural resources, especially water, land and food have increased multifold. The brunt of the changing demography is being faced in the guise of river encroachment as the Gomti is being jolted with unlawful human interference. Practices like captivation of the banks and floodplains for anthropogenic purposes, unchecked extraction of water from the river as well as the ground, frequent oscillation in the land-use pattern along the riverbanks, incessant sand mining, disposal of untreated waste and unnatural sedimentation have proved to be detrimental for the Gomti as it advances towards losing the perennial nature, experiencing seasonality. The menace of flooding and water-logging coupled with vector-breeding grounds and the development of temporary colonies and slums severely affect the people around. Thus, it is evident that river encroachment is hitting hard at the morphology and health of the river system. The present study stresses on the intensifying pattern of river encroachment and the hazards it poses to the sustenance of the River Gomti. The study targets the issue of drastically shifting land-use pattern along the Gomti which induces a disbalance in the hydrology and dynamics of the river. The study performs intricate mapping and assessment, braced by a comparison drawn between the areal extent, level of encroachment and land-use pattern along the River Gomti in the years 1972 and 2022. The study is a step towards untangling the problem of river encroachment and foster awareness which obstructs its expansion in the future. It suggests regulatory and administrative policies as well as mitigation strategies to eliminate extensive encroachment. The study seeks the participation of the local authorities and residents to monitor encroachment throughout the course of the River Gomti.