Haryana RWAs question S+4 relief just month after demolition notices

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, July 4

Residents’ welfare associations protesting stilt-plus-four (S+4) floors on residential plots smell a rat in the Haryana Government’s nod to the policy just over a month after it issued demolition notices for fourth floors constructed in violation of the ban on February 23, 2023, even as the authorities maintain the notices were “wrongly issued”.

“The U-turn by the government to benefit the builders’ lobby is inexplicable.

The district authorities of the Town and Country Planning Department sent out notices saying they would carry out demolition where the building plan for the fourth floor was not sanctioned before the ban was effected in February 2023. There is something fishy,” says Baljeet Singh Rathi, president, DLF Qutab Enclave (1-5), Gurugram.

Move inexplicable

Did the Town and Country Planning Department not know that the government was in the process of giving a nod to the policy? We are not sure how the government issuing demolition notices turned around to give nod to a policy that has been opposed across the state. —Yashvir Malik, Convener, HSHSC

In Sirsa, Rajpal Singh, president, RWA, Sector 20 (Part 3), says: “We were celebrating when the notices were issued and hoping the policy would be scrapped. Contrary to that, a policy allowing the construction of the fourth floor was announced. Only 60 per cent of my sector is inhabited, and we get water supply only once. If four floors come up, there won’t be enough water to cater to the residents’ needs.”

The demolition notices issued by the office of the Gurugram District Town Planner say the grant of occupation certificate for the fourth floor without the approval of the building plan prior to the ban would be “observed to be against the spirit of the imposed ban”. Legal action would be initiated in such cases, immediate action to restore original position would be undertaken, and architects be blacklisted, the notices said.

Yashvir Malik, convener, Haryana State HUDA Sectors Confederation, an association of 268 Residents’ Welfare Associations, says the notices in Gurugram came as a relief for the state’s residents opposing the policy. “Did the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) not know that the government was in the process of giving a nod to the policy? We are not sure how a government issuing notices of demolition turned around to give its nod to a policy that has been opposed across the state. The notice was a severe jolt to developers,” he states.

Meanwhile, DTCP sources said only 60 such constructions were found to be in violation of the ban. Town and Country Planning Minister JP Dalal said, “The notices were wrongly issued by the Gurugram office and we have sought an explanation. The policy was already under consideration of the government when the notices were issued during the elections.”