Improvement trust fails to remove illegal shops, houses in Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar

Neeraj Bagga

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 2

Though the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) has detected six illegally constructed houses and a few shops at the residential area earmarked of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Nagar Scheme in the Maal Mandi area in early March, no action has been taken against the violators by the authorities concerned.

These unauthorisedly raised shops and houses on the main road of the scheme continue to mock state laws framed for regulating the development in the city. The construction of illegal houses and shops came to light in a survey conducted by the Revenue Department following an inquiry marked by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Earlier, the Deputy CM had marked an inquiry on a complaint seeking investigation in the role of officials of the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) in illegal construction of shops in the residential area under the Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar Scheme.

The complainant, who approached the Deputy CM on his e-mail ID, requested to keep his identity secret. The Deputy CM then forwarded the inquiry to Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat, who further marked an inquiry to the AIT to investigate the matter.

Later, the trust detected six houses and some shops at the Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar scheme as illegal as the ownership of the land vested in the trust. The role of several AIT officials came under scanner in the illegal construction of shops in the residential complex developed under the 221-acre Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar Scheme.

When contacted AIT chairman Sandeep Rishi said violators were issued 15-day notice to remove unauthorised construction. However, neither did they respond nor did they act. He said now the trust would move Deputy Director, Local Government-cum-Collector under the Public Properties Act. The Collector would offer one more opportunity to the violators to present their case. Failure to convince authorities would lead to eviction.