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ILLEGAL COLONIES

Deadline over, developers fail to rise to occasion

LUDHIANA: Four-month period provided by the Punjab Government to the developers to get their illegal (unlicensed) colonies regularised under the new policy, being over (on Feb 18, 2019), the move seems to have failed to deliver the desired results if the scant number of applications received by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) is any indication.

Deadline over, developers fail to rise to occasion

1920 illegal colonies are located under the GLADA jurisdiction.



Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, February 20

Four-month period provided by the Punjab Government to the developers to get their illegal (unlicensed) colonies regularised under the new policy, being over (on Feb 18, 2019), the move seems to have failed to deliver the desired results if the scant number of applications received by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) is any indication. Even though 1920 illegal colonies are located under the GLADA jurisdiction, just about 225 applications were submitted by the developers for regularisation of colonies.

According to the official data uploaded on the GLADA website, 1,431 illegal colonies are located in Ludhiana, 138 in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr), 190 in Phillaur, 69 in Moga, 19 in Khanna and 73 in Ferozepur districts – all under administrative control of GLADA.

City-based developers as well as senior functionaries of the Punjab Colonisers and Developers Association maintain that developers were not very happy with the policy for regularisation of illegal colonies, notified on October 18, 2018, even though quite a few demands put forth by them were incorporated in the policy.

“The policy (which has since lapsed) required a lot of documentation, was full of ambiguities and procedural wrangles. Most of the developers not being highly qualified or well-versed with computers, were not able to complete the paper work and submit applications on-line,” said a developer.

The developers pointed out that in many cases of colonies where applications were pending/rejected under previous policies, options from applicants as to under which policy did they want their applications to be processed, should have been enough because most of such developers had already deposited the licence fee, development and CLU charges.

Moreover, for registration of sale deeds of plots and properties, receipt of full payment should have been considered as NOC because registration of sale deeds had been suspended for quite some time in the state, said the developers.

Holding the bureaucrats responsible for making the policy cumbersome and complex in order to keep developers away, sources claimed that certain officials responsible for enforcement had a vested interest because of their proximity to unscrupulous developers. “Once the colony is regularised, the developers would no longer have to strike deals with the staff of the regulatory authority,” said the sources.

Secretary of Punjab Colonisers and Property Dealers Association GS Lamba claimed that the government had decided in principle to accept most of the demands put forth by the developers’ body through a memorandum submitted earlier this month. “Interest on fee deposited under previous policies has been waived and submission of applications further simplified,” he said while adding that the government would extend the policy for a certain period as a one-time measure.

He said some other issues related to the policy such as parity in development charges for colonies located within and outside the city limits and formation of a state property board to bridge the gap between the stake holders and the regulatory bodies were also being taken up with the government.

1920 illegal colonies, just 225 applications

Even though 1920 illegal colonies are located under the GLADA jurisdiction, just about 225 applications were submitted by the developers for regularisation of colonies.

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