Wastelands turn goldmines

Ravneet Singh in Patiala

Unchecked by the MC, illegal colonies have mushroomed in Patiala over the years. Many of the city’s wastelands and farmlands have been usurped by land mafia to build colonies. Their proliferation has led to an increase in pollution in the city and loss of revenue to the local bodies.

The MC has been able to identify 31 illegal colonies in Patiala. Of these, 20 have applied for registration, but with incomplete documents. Owners of 10 colonies remain unidentified. Only one such colony was recently regularised when the coloniser paid the required registration fee of Rs 37 lakh.

Unauthorised colonies in MC limits include Kamal Colony Extension, Deep Nagar Extension, Dhillon Colony in Dhamo Majra, Ranjit Vihar in Alipur Arian, Royal Bagh in Arayin Majra among others. Two such colonies are near Chaura village and three near city dumping grounds.

Compared with circle rate in the city, the cost of land in these colonies is comparatively low. While people do get homes, what they don’t get is proper sewerage, water and roads. 

MC Joint Commissioner Ankur Mahendru said, “Neither do the colonisers submit documents, nor do they pay the requisite fee for registration. We can use the accumulated registration amount for the development of the locality, but only if these are regularised.”