Locals protest merger of areas with development body in Bir

Palampur, August 24

Residents of newly merged areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Special Area Development Authority (SADA) today held a protest before their meeting with Baijnath MLA Kishoril Lal outside Forest Rest House in Bir. According to them, the authorities did not take their consent before merging their panchayats with the SADA. With the inclusion of these villages, no building can be constructed without the prior approval of the body. This stipulation has caused inconvenience to them.

“Besides, it takes months to get approval for site plans of residential houses and other buildings from SADA. Locals have submitted the site plans of their buildings for approval at the SADA office, but even after six months, they have not received the permission,” said a villager during the meeting.

While speaking to mediapersons, villagers said with their areas coming under the jurisdiction of SADA had made their lives miserable because of the complicated rules. They had to take advance approval for the construction of houses, shops and other buildings in the areas, he said. The villagers could not construct even a cowshed without the permission of the authority in the four panchayats, they further said.

Kishoril Lal, while talking to The Tribune, said the government had planned to provide relaxation for the approval of site plans in the areas falling within the limits of SADA in Bir Billing and the matter was under process. He hoped that the villagers would get relief and their building plans would be cleared.

“Efforts are being made to approve site plans in a month, but in most cases, there are violations such as encroachments on government land and lack of proposed parking areas and setbacks, etc. Therefore, the approvals of such buildings have been delayed,” he said.