Regularisation of Bhargo Camp put on a back burner-with pix

Deepkamal Kaur

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 3

Even as it has been nearly 10 months since the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the Municipal Corporation (MC) Jalandhar to regularise as many as 525 encroachments in Bhargo Camp, the administration and the civic body have been going very slow on the matter.Even as a committee formed by the court under Jalandhar DC had decided that the illegal occupants be asked to pay up for the land as per the collector rates, the MC is yet to issue demand notices to them for the same. The MC officials, however, claim that they were conducting fresh survey in the area again to clearly mark out all encroachments which need to be regularised and those that need to be removed.

The MC had stated in the court in January last year that 32 houses in the locality are to be demolished. Out of the 32 houses, three houses had already been demolished on August 22 last. After the demolition, the residents too had moved a petition saying that while “conducting a survey of the illegal constructions in Bhargo Camp, their contention was not duly considered, nor they were called to show to the authorities that their constructions were also liable to be regularised and, therefore, a fresh survey be conducted by the same committee constituted by the government which may take a fresh decision as to whether the constructions relating to the remaining 29 illegal houses have to be regularised or not.”Municipal Corporation too had stated that it had no objection if a fresh survey of 29 illegal houses which are to be demolished is ordered to be conducted. Staying any further demolition in the area, the court had ordered the survey before October 31 last. After the survey, the MC officials now claim that there are just about one or two illegal constructions which will have to be removed. On the last hearing, the court took the MC’s statement on record while putting the next date to February 20.

Municipal Town Planner Tejpreet Singh said that the demand notices would be issued in two to three weeks after some measurements for re-verification of properties and plan in the area would be done again by the staff.

BACKGROUND

The Bhargo Camp settlement came into being in the post-1947 situation and was initially named as Bhargav Camp for the refugees in the name of the then Chief Minister Dr Gopi Chand Bhargav. The migrants from West Pakistan were given the benefit of allotment of barracks of two marlas of land and common toilet facilities per refugee family. There was a paucity of space which did not make it possible for the construction of bathrooms and toilets. The refugees were stated to be largely labourers and earning their livelihood by plying bullock carts, small dairies, sheep/goat keeping, pottery etc, who eventually became permanent occupants here.However, a petition on the massive encroachments in the locality had been filed in 1998 by the Citizen Welfare Society on which Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had ordered about 10 months back that the regularisation should be done via a proper sanction and on a payment of the requisite amount to the authorities. It had also asked the MC officials to remove any construction, which it considered to be unauthorised.

After the orders, a committee consisting of officials of the Municipal Corporation as well as the Revenue Department was constituted to visit the area and submit its recommendations as regard the regularisation of encroachments based on the parameters of availability of front road, width of road, hindrance to traffic, building line regular or not, property situated on street with an open end or not, conveyance or registration deed if any, pendency of application for the allotment of site with the DC, construction on MC toilets or space causing hindrance to approach toilets.” BOX

The MC had initially said that there were 525 encroachments which could be regularised. But now after three demolitions and a fresh survey, it claims that there are only one or two encroachments which have to be removed with as many as 553 encroachments that can be regularised. The MC’s town planning department will now ask the occupants to pay up for the land as per prevalent collector rates before regularising their houses and shops. (EOM)