Chandigarh MC serves notice on illegal guest houses

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 14

The Municipal Corporation has again issued a 30-day demolition notice to 50 new guest houses.

Though 123 guest houses were served a similar notice last year in October, several of them got a stay order from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. So, the matter remained in limbo. No strict action could be taken back then, putting a question mark over the notices being sent by the civic body.

“Since new villages have merged in the MC, we are identifying guest houses that are operating from residential areas. We are holding them liable for illegal constructions as it is threat to the life of people and causes nuisance in the area,” said MC Additional Commissioner SK Jain.

Illegal activities thrive at guest houses in UT villages that were earlier given closure notice for violating building bylaws and fire safety norms earlier too.

A 2019 report on guest houses in villages had highlighted numerous violations. As per the report, guest houses have been constructed on narrow lanes of villages. These are structurally unsafe. Some of these need to be demolished.

Many guest houses were also found to be virtual death traps with no fire safety equipment installed. A majority of these do not have parking space. Vehicles are parked haphazardly in front of buildings, congesting the village roads. Several guest houses have been opened in residential areas.

The report also stated that when these guest houses were constructed, there were no building bylaws for villages.