Contractor illegally occupies GLADA land worth crores

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, December 9

Sounds incredulous but it is a fact that a local civil contractor, enlisted with various government departments, is unlawfully occupying prime land of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) on Chandigarh Road for over a year after the completion of work for construction of roads and streets in Sector 32 A colony, developed and maintained by GLADA.

The contractor had put up an RMC (ready mix concrete) plant on nearly two-acre prime land on the main Ludhiana-Chandigarh Road worth several crores of rupees which lied adjacent to commercial pocket and residential area of Sector 32-A when the work for construction of roads and streets costing around Rs 4.49 crore was allotted to his agency in October 2019.

However, even after the work allotted by GLADA was completed by the agency in a-year-and-a-half, the contractor has not vacated the prime government land and the RMC plant was still operational. Ironically, residents and owners/tenant of commercial properties (SCOs) have lodged several complaints with GLADA against the RMC plant, which, as per them, was causing worst kind of air pollution by way of cement dust and coal tar fumes and GLADA action was confined to issuing notices to the contractor.

Residents of Sector 32-A as well as SCO owners on main Ludhiana-Chandigarh Road assert that the construction agency ought to have wounded up its RMC plant from the site immediately after the work allotted to it by GLADA was completed.

“It (the plant) has become a big source of nuisance as it causes a worst kind of ai pollution. Not only this, tones of debris (malba) have been dumped both inside and outside the plant which against compounds the problem of air pollution, besides causing obstruction in service lanes,” they complained.

Meanwhile, GLADA officials claimed that they had already issued several notices to the contractor to vacate the site. “We are building immense pressure to remove the plant from the land. In the meantime, balance payment, bank guarantee and security of the contractor are withheld, which will be released only after he hands over possession of the land back to GLADA,” said an official of the engineering branch of GLADA.

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