Residents see red over encroachments in Jalandhar's JP Nagar

Avneet Kaur

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Jalandhar, May 11

Residents of JP Nagar on Wednesday submitted a complaint letter to Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori against the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) and the Municipal Corporation (MC) for failing to provide promised facilities and removing encroachments from their area.

In the complaint letter (a copy of which is in possession of Jalandhar Tribune), advocate Brijesh Chopra, a resident of the locality and former member of the JIT and the MC, said a large portion of the ‘government land’ in their locality had been encroached upon and despite repeated complaints the department concerned is not taking any action in this regard.

He said many house owners in their area have converted their properties into shops, restaurants and a hospital, etc, and are openly flouting building bylaws. He said after the beginning of commercial activities in the area, residents are facing traffic issues and other problems.

He further said this residential area is spread in an area of 74.4 and 33 acres, which is also known as JP Nagar. It was sanctioned by the Punjab Government in 1978 and was later framed by the JIT in the same year. He said it was sanctioned as a residential scheme and as per the bylaws, the area cannot be used for commercial activities. “Besides, a commercial site was reserved in the scheme, but the same has not been allotted till date, causing a financial loss to the tune of crores of rupees to the allottees,” he added.

Another resident of the area said the JIT carved out roads of different width ranging from 30 ft, 40 ft and 60 ft under the scheme at various places as approved by the MC and the Punjab Government. “But only one road of width 40ft has been built for the use of residents and the second road earmarked in the scheme has not been carved out yet,” he added.

He said they have only one road in the area, and now that too is being widely used for commercial purposes, therefore they are facing problems and even in emergency it becomes difficult for them to cross the road.

The residents alleged that many residents have encroached on the footpath as a result of which the width of the road has been decreased by 20 to 50%. “Some of them even amalgamated the road/footpath areas into their own ownership, but the authorities concerned have turned a blind eye to the issue,” they added.

They demanded that all the shops, restaurants, and the hospital operating in the residential area be sealed or demolished immediately and the width of the road be restored as approved in the scheme. Besides, they also appealed to the DC to order MC officials to remove all encroachments on footpath not only in their area but from markets and other places too as these have become a major issue for traffic congestion.

What officials have to say

• Mandeep Singh, Superintendent, Tehbazari Department, confirmed that complaints regarding the issue have been received by the MC in the past many times, but this matter comes under the jurisdiction of the Building and Roads Department, and they have to take action against the violators.
• When contacted, Mayor Jagdish Raja said the matter had been brought to their knowledge in the past and he would ask the B&R Department to take action against the violators and clear all the encroachments at the earliest.
• Say the footpath space alongside the road has been encroached by some residents for commercial purposes, who have set up their shops, restaurants etc on the govt land