HC orders probe into Gurugram road widths amid stilt-plus-four construction controversy
The bench was also told that the government claims of 10-meter wide roads were far from actual position on the ground
Acting on a bunch of petitions filed in public interest against stilt-plus-four construction, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the setting up of a panel to look into the actual widths of roads in Gurugram residential areas.
The direction by the bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry came following contrary stands taken by parties before the court on the actual road width in the residential areas, where the stilt-plus-four construction is being allowed.
Appearing before the bench for the petitioners in one of the matters, counsel Nivedita Sharma submitted that an expert committee had recommended green signal to S+4 construction in areas with roads having 12-meter width. But the state reduced this to 10 meters. But the width of actual internal roads in Gurugram were not of 10-meter width. In fact, some were only 4.5 to 6 meters wide. Vehicles were still parked on roads and the stilt spaces were being converted to commercial use.
The bench was also told that the government claims of 10-meter wide roads were far from actual position on the ground. In an attempt to buttress the arguments, photographs were also shown to the bench.
The state, on the other hand, submitted that S+4 construction in old areas was being allowed only on roads with 10-meter width. For future projects, it would be allowed along roads with a minimum width of 12 meter. He also submitted that infrastructure augmentation would be done from the funds collected from S+4 approvals.
After hearing rival contentions, the court directed the panel’s constitution comprising lawyers from both sides and independent experts.
The bench, during the course of hearing, was earlier told that Haryana Government had placed a ban on new S+4 approvals on March 23, 2023, following widespread concerns from resident welfare associations and citizens regarding the inability of Gurugram’s infrastructure to cope with the increased population and traffic that would result from such constructions.
Acknowledging the gravity of the concerns, the respondents constituted an expert committee on March 16, 2023, chaired by the chairman of Haryana State Pollution Control Board, to study the situation and make appropriate recommendations.
The expert committee engaged with various stakeholders and examined over 26,000 responses from the public, including online and offline submissions. The committee found that Gurugram’s existing infrastructure, including water supply systems, sewerage network and power supply, was woefully inadequate to support additional load that would result from permitting S+4 constructions in the existing residential areas.
The expert committee’s report highlighted significant shortcomings in Gurugram’s water infrastructure. It was added that the city’s sewage infrastructure was unable to handle the additional waste generated by increased population density.
In light of these challenges, the expert committee made a series of clear recommendations. It stated that no further approval for S+4 constructions should be granted unless a detailed infrastructure capacity audit was conducted to assess the current availability of essential services.
Despite the recommendations, the respondents issued the impugned notification allowing the resumption of S+4 constructions without conducting the necessary infrastructure audit or upgrading the cities civics services. “This decision has been taken in complete disregard of the findings of the expert committee and without addressing the legitimate concerns raised by the residence of Gurugram.”
