Fate of colonies on periphery hangs in balance

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, September 6

Fate of thousands of residents living in colonies on the periphery of the city hangs in the balance due to indifference and apathy on the part of the government and the Municipal Corporation. While the government has been giving a blind eye to the plight of the residents, who are deprived of basic civic amenities, the Municipal Corporation has also washed its hands of the matter, saying that these areas are outside the city limits.

Drawing the attention of the government to the pathetic conditions with regard to urban infrastructure and total lack of civic amenities in hundreds of such colonies, a social activist, Nalin Kaushik, has lodged a complaint with the government making a fervent plea to either extend the city limits so that the residents could look towards the MC for providing amenities or else declare these areas as urban and set up municipal councils or nagar panchayats in these areas.

In his complaint to the Chief Minister, the Secretary, Local Government; and the Deputy Commissioner, Kaushik said it was most unfortunate that a resolution adopted by MC General House for extension of the city limits, under Article 243 (Q) and section 4 of the Punjab Municipal Act 1911, in December 2016 and sent to the Department of Local Government for statutory approval in January 2017, was still gathering dust without receiving any response from the government.

“With the colonies on the periphery of the city, technically being out of the city limits, being nobody’s baby, the residents are being made to suffer for utter lack of amenities and basic urban infrastructure such as roads, streets, sewerage and safe water,” said the complaint.

Responding to the complaint, the Municipal Town Planner has put the ball in the court of the state government saying that the resolution adopted by the Muncipal Corporation for the extension of city limits was pending with the government and any further action could be taken only after a response from the Local Government Department.

On behalf of the aggrieved residents, the complainant has made a fervent plea that either the decision for extension of city limits be taken without any further delay or else the colonies lying on the periphery be declared urban areas so that these could have nagar panchayats or municipal councils to take care of the civic amenities and other basic urban infrastructure.

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