Patel Hospital, Skylark Hotel in the eye of storm

Rachna Khaira

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 8

Residents of the Civil Lines and Dilkushan market led by area councillor Joginder Toni today lodged a complaint against Patel Hospital and Skylark Hotel with Municipal Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khehra for encroaching the service roads and parks in the area.

The residents have demanded formation of SIT to probe the alleged encroachments made by Patel Hospital and Skylark Hotel.

Rajiv Sood, Secretary, Civil Lines Welfare Society, alleged that the central park was earlier encroached upon by some miscreants and later sold to Patel Hospital authorities illegally. He said the hospital authorities further allotted the area illegally to a parking contractor who was now charging Rs 30 per vehicle from those who visit the hospital. He said Skylark Hotel has also encroached upon another park and a service lane meant for the area residents.

Another resident Manisha said due to this, there was no place left for their children to play or for area residents to move their vehicle into the colony.

Also, the Wholesale Chemist Association at the Dilkusha market alleged that Patel Hospital has encroached upon road passing through from the hospital premises to the Rama Krishna market causing a huge loss to their business.

Rishu Verma, general secretary of the association, said: “The road link is very crucial to the market as it is used mostly by the shop owners and the customers. Some people have also alleged that the hospital has also opened an emergency unit on the service road meant for the colony residents.”

The association alleged that they have tried numerous times to apprise the hospital authorities of the problem being faced by the area residents as well as the association, the owners were giving a deaf ear to them.

The association and the area residents today created uproar over the alleged encroachments made by the two groups and reported house tax theft worth crores by the hospital authorities. The area residents alleged that the MC officials under political pressure were hesitant to take any action against the erring authorities. They have now threatened to launch a legal battle against the hospital authorities and the MCJ. The hospital authorities could not be reached despite repeated attempts.