NHAI declares bridge on Tung Dhab drain illegal

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, July 7

The National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) has issued a notice to coloniser of Holy City locality, where Navjot Singh Sidhu too has residence, for having illegal access through the national highway and directed to remove the bridge within 10 days, otherwise legal action will be initiated. The residents of Holy City locality felt cheated and demanded to register a case against the coloniser and appeal the authorities to have sympathetic view in the interest of residents living for over a decade.

While issuing a notice to the coloniser, National Highway Authority of India has declared the bridge built on the Tung Dhab drain to enter Holy City locality as illegal and ordered to demolish the bridge.

The bridge was illegally constructed over the Tung Dhab drain to link the colony with the main highway leading to Attari border around 20 years back. In 2004, the Water Supply Department received a complaint about this illegal bridge. Acting on the complaint, officials of the Water Supply Department asked to investigate and issued a letter on June 15, 2004. The junior engineer, deployed in the area visited the spot with another team and saw that the bridge being constructed in front of the drain pillar 35150 and reported that bridge is illegal.

“Surprisingly no action has been taken by the department on this report for 20 years, this puts a question mark on the functioning of the officials of the department. Further, the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) issued a license to same coloniser even after the gross violations. For the last 20 years, the coloniser has earned crores of rupees. Today, due to the notice of the illegality of the bridge placed on the main gate of the colony by the NHAI and residents are worried about the future,” said Ranjeet Singh Rana, general secretary of the Holy City Township Association.

Meanwhile, office-bearers of the Holy City Township Association has written a letter to the Chief Minister of Punjab and demanded that a case should be registered against the coloniser for cheating the government. HS Ghuman, Rajan Mann, Gurdev Singh Mahal, Vijay Kumar, Gagandeep Singh Dhillon, Yogesh Kamara, Dilbagh Singh Sandhu, Gurpreet Singh Sidhu, Rajbir Singh Sandhu, Sikandar Singh Gill, Karan Singh, Amandeep Singh Sethi, Sandeep Singh Bajwa gathered today and alleged that the coloniser had cheated hundreds of people and strict action should be taken against him.