MC fails to act against illegal hotel along railway tracks

Ravneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 20

The local Municipal Corporation (MC) is yet to act against the owners of an illegal hotel constructed near railway tracks in the city. This is when the state is observing a day of mourning over a horrific accident on rail tracks in Amritsar that left more than 60 persons dead on Friday.

The building is extremely close to the railway lines. As per the rules, a building, which stands within the range of 60+5 metres from the railway overbridge,  has been prohibited by 

the Public Works Department (PWD). 

The MC had sent a final notice to the owners in this regard in August, but failed to initiate an action against them. Besides, the owners were also asked to construct a stilt parking according to a submitted and cleared construction plan, but to no avail.

Recently, when the civic body was asked to produce documents regarding the illegal construction and notices issued by the MC through an RTI, it said the matter was under process and did not provide copies of the notices.

MC Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira said he was unaware of the current status of the matter. No action had been initiated against the owner, he said and added, “I will soon check the current status of the file.”

Laxity on the part of the civic body officials came to the fore in 2016 when the PWD had sent a notice to the corporation asking it to stop the illegal construction along railway line. In May this year, MC officials started sending notices to the owners to explain the construction. Later, discrepancies were reported, but the MC kept dilly-dallying the matter. The final notice was sent in August.

Deputy Commissioner Kumar Amit said, “The matter comes under the MC. I will have a word with MC officials and look into the matter.”

When contacted, Dinesh Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Ambala, said the railways would look into the matter and initiate appropriate steps.