New land policy which regularises encroachments irks locals

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 29

The state’s new policy, under which people can apply for regularisation of illegal structures and encroachments, has become a contentious issue that is agonising the locals.

Take the case of residents of lower Barol area of the city. About a hundred residents of the area, which has recently come under the municipal corporation, had complained against an encroachment on a path leading to their colony. They had alleged that the path to their colony, having about hundred houses, had been reduced from 10 feet to about 6 feet due to construction just at the entrance of the colony.

However, the Town and Country Planning Department officials have written to the colony residents that the person accused of encroaching the path had applied for regularisation of his illegal structure under the new government policy—the HP Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016.

Asha Mehta, District and Town Planner Dharamsala, admitted that the violator had submitted a revised map demanding regularisation of his building constructed against the approved map.

She said that till July 29, all residents were entitled to get their deviations in original plans regularised under the new government policy.

When asked about the number of people who had applied under the new policy she said the data was still being collected.

The present case also illustrates the inconvenience that the new policy would bring. Under this policy even people who have encroached on public paths and government lands can apply for regularisation of their structures. In such a scenario the encroachers would benefit and people who have abide by rules and regulations would suffer.

In the past two years many influential people in Dharamsala and Mcleodganj have raised multi-storey illegal structures with a hope that these would be regularised by the government policy. While raising these structures the people have bypassed all the bylaws of the Town and Country Planning Department and the municipal act.