M A I N   N E W S

PUDA plans to regularise illegal colonies
Chitleen K. Sethi
Tribune News Service

Mohali, August 23
Swinging into action following police action on unauthorised colonisers in the state, the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) has decided to finalise a comprehensive policy regarding regularisation of ‘illegal’ colonies in Punjab. The Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Mr Raghunath Sahai Puri, will take a final decision in the matter at a meeting likely to be held shortly.

Talking to The Tribune, the Chief Administrator, PUDA, Mr A.S. Chattwal, said a detailed proposal on this issue had been sent to the Minister through the Secretary today.

Mr Chattwal said PUDA had no intention of demolishing the houses constructed on plots purchased in good faith by the public in unauthorised colonies, but at the same time, he added, it was PUDA’s duty to ensure that certain minimum facilities were provided to the inhabitants by the coloniser.

Mr Chattwal pointed out that issues pertaining to the unauthorised coloniser paying a fine and external development charges to PUDA to get his colony ‘regularised’ form a part of the proposal forwarded to the Minister.

It is also learnt that various deficiencies in these colonies would also be assessed by PUDA teams. Each coloniser would be charged in accordance with the extent of the deficiencies found in each colony. Alternatively, a lump sum amount per acre could also be charged from these colonies based on the state of infrastructure and other facilities provided in these colonies.

The Minister would also discuss any changes that might be required in the Punjab Apartment Property Regulation Act, 1995, so as to facilitate the issuing of licences to the promoters and make laws more stringent for the violators in the future.

Sources added that once the policy for regularisation of these colonies is notified and set into motion, the unauthorised colonisers would be expected to comply with all the terms and conditions laid by PUDA in the matter. Following this criminal cases against them are liable to be withdrawn.

Interestingly, more than a hundred colonisers met today and showed their keenness to PUDA authorities to get their colonies regularised after payment of reasonable fines and dues.

Sources said a Committee was constituted by PUDA to make recommendations for the proposed regularisation of illegal colonies in 2002. This Committee had recommended that Rs 10000 per hectare be charged as penalty from the unauthorised colonisers. Besides this, external development charges would be charged as laid down in PAPRA and certain ‘deficient internal development charges’ would also have to be paid by these colonisers. The recommendations of this committee would also come up for discussions at the meeting.

On PUDA website

The list of all licenced colonies established in Punjab have been put on the PUDA website — puda.nic.in. Colonies other than these are unauthorised, says Mr Chatwal.