Surya Enclave residents protest against JIT

Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, August 11

Members of Surya Enclave Extension Welfare Society staged a symbolic protest against the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) here on Tuesday morning. Five members of the society, holding candles in their hands, ensuring social distancing and following other Covid-19 norms, sat outside the office of JIT demanding refund of the principal amount paid to JIT for the plots, the possession of which they haven’t received till date.

Fact File

In 2011, the JIT had framed a “development scheme” for the allotment of residential plots in Surya Enclave Extension in around 94.97 acre of land. It offered around 431 plots in various sizes, ranging from 100 square yards to 500 square yards to the general public at a reserve price of Rs17,000 per square yard. Though it had taken a substantial amount of money from the allottees, it failed to hand over the possession of the plots to a few of them.

Talking to The Tribune, ML Sehgal, president of the Surya Enclave Extension Welfare Society, said the JIT had miserably failed to remove illegal encroachments from their area, which was the main hurdle behind allottees not getting the possession of their plots even after nine years.

“There are a number of encroachments on the ‘C and D’ block of the complex. Also, there is a slaughterhouse on the complex and an illegal kothi (house) in the park, which despite repeated complaints, has not been removed,” he said.

He said migrant workers have illegally occupied residential plots in their area that belong to various allottees. “There are total 16 allottees, who had paid around Rs40 lakh to Rs50 lakh each, but haven’t got the possession so far, as these encroachers refuse to clear the area and even the JIT had failed to take any action against them,” Sehgal said.

Another protester, Rai Sahib, said: “I am an uneducated man, I do not have knowledge of all this paper work and legal formalities,” he said, alleging that even though he hasn’t received the possession of his plot, the JIT claimed to have given him the possession.

Other protesters Bharat Bhushan Khullar and Naresh Walia said: “The JIT is yet to clear encroachments on the Maharaja Agarsain road (120-feet road lying unconstructed), which gives a very shoddy look to our colony. There is a factory falling in between and some migrants have built their kuccha houses on the road, which needs to relocated,” they said, adding that they have been demanding the construction of a 120-ft road connecting the Damoria Railway Overbridge with the national highway via Surya Enclave Extension since long, but the authorities concerned were paying no heed.

Major demands

• Refund of amount with interest or possession of plots at the earliest
• Removal of illegal encroachments from their area i.e. from their society park, C and D block
• Removal of encroachments on the Maharaja Agarsain road
• Construction of a 120-ft road connecting Damoria Railway Overbridge with NH via Surya Enclave Ext
• Second entry to the railway station from the Qazi Mandi area

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