Eyeing business, Mohali PG owners flout norms

Mohali MC to raise issue with CM

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 22

Concerned over the mushrooming of illegal paying guest (PG) accommodations in Mohali, the Municipal Corporation has decided to take up the issue with the Chief Minister and the Chief Administrator, GMADA.

Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Mayor Manjit Singh Sethi said there were a proper set of guidelines issued by the Punjab Government for running PGs in the state.

He said the guidelines were framed after he moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court after his nephew had died in a brawl at a PG in the city. The state government was directed to either frame a policy or close illegal PGs running in the state.

Sethi said around 30 PGs were registered with GMADA, while more than 500 such accommodations were operating without registration and tenant verification in various areas of the city.

He said, “A PG owner charges between Rs 6,000 and 6,500 per month from a tenant for a single bed and two meals per day. And mostly two persons share a room, which means the owners are fetching around Rs 12,000 per month from one room.”

The Deputy Mayor said there were clear guidelines for setting up a PG in the state. During registration, the owners had to provide 50 yard space per person, separate kitchen, no objection certificate for neighbours, permission of local councillor, police verification of the person staying as a paying guest and a display board on which details of all paying guests such as their identity, permanent address, parents name and telephone numbers are mentioned, he said and added that no such rules were being followed by the PG owners in the city.

Parminder Singh, a resident of Purab Premium Apartments, said illegal PG businesses were affecting them a lot as brawls and altercations had become a routine in the area. He said more than 150 PGs were operating illegally in the society constructed by GMADA. He said they had submitted a complaint in this regard to the Deputy Commissioner and GMADA Chief Administrator, but nothing had been done so far. He said even GMADA had failed to provide fire hydrants in the society.

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