Jalandhar: A month on, FIR lodged in Joshi Hospital digging case

Deepkamal Kaur

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Jalandhar, April 28

A month after few houses in Adarsh Nagar had reportedly developed cracks due to illegal digging of the basement of an adjoining plot of Joshi Hospital in violation of the sanctioned plan, the city police on Thursday finally lodged an FIR against its owners.

Mukesh Joshi, his wife Neelam Joshi and son Anuj Joshi have been booked under Sections 447 (criminal trespass) and 427 (for causing damage) of the IPC and Section 21 of the Mines and Minerals Act at Police Station Division No. 2 on Thursday.

While the owner of house number 422, Adarsh Nagar, which faced the maximum brunt has not given the statement, the FIR has been lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by social activist and resident of the same area Simran Jit Singh.

In his complaint that he had moved to the police the very next day after the incident, he had pointed to various violations. Simran Jit Singh has said the owners of the building had got the building plan sanctioned on March 2 last and had given affidavit that they would take NOC from the mining department, which they did not take.

He also raised the issue that the owner was required to deposit the structure certificate from IIT, Roorkee, which was mandatory as per provisions of the Building Bylaws 2018 applicable to his building but he went ahead with digging.

Pointing as to how he not being the main affected party could lodge the complaint, Simran Jit Singh has said: “The owners have clubbed the plot from other area illegally, which was not mentioned and sanctioned in the building application. He has also encroached upon a public street obstructing the public to enter from P&T Colony side.”

He has further alleged that the owner has not left any space on the side and setback while digging the basement. As per the plan, they were to leave 16.23 m as setback and 3.05 m as sideback, which they violated.

As per the reports of the MC, commercial CLU had been passed for the 19,446 sq feet land on October 14, 2021. The owner had also added 30 feet by 83 feet land for basement along with the approved site for digging purpose.

During inquiry, the police teams found that the owner of the house in Adarsh Nagar, which had got damaged does not want to lodge any complaint as the owner of the hospital has been compensating for all the required repair and re-construction work. The FIR has been lodged after a preliminary investigation into the matter by the DCP, Investigation.