LIT, Ludhiana MC cross swords over building control in 'handed-over' colonies

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, September 29

Even as there are violations galore, like illegal change of land use, flouting building bylaws and encroachments, in almost all colonies developed and maintained by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT), certain officials of the building branch of the Trust have made themselves conspicuous by meddling into the affairs of colonies which had long ago been transferred to the Municipal Corporation (MC) for maintenance under the provisions of the Punjab Town Improvement Act.

The line for building control in the colonies maintained by LIT and handed over to MC has been clearly and repeatedly drawn, which lays down that for all development schemes, handed over by LIT to MC for maintenance, entire building control including approval of building plans, regulation and enforcement of building norms, would be vested with the building branch of the civic body.

Eyebrows were raised when recently a senior official of the LIT formally visited Model Town Extension, which was developed by LIT and later handed over to the MC after five years of completion of all development works as per statutory provisions.

While MC officials took exception to this overstepping by their counterpart from the Trust, even senior LIT officials termed the act as ‘exceeding one’s authority’.

A senior official of the engineering branch of the Trust said if at all an LIT official needed to visit any of the handed over colonies for some violation or irregularity, he or she ought to put the visit on record and also place the findings, if any, on the file. Ideally, such an exercise should be carried out in coordination with MC officials, he added.

An official of the building branch of the MC, however, said any intervention in building control of the areas lying in a colony handed over by LIT after development to MC, was a clear breach of terms and conditions of the transfer of colonies which were governed by an Act. “Regulation and enforcement of building norms as well as building control in all handed-over colonies is our responsibility and we are competent enough to perform our official duty,” the official remarked.

Eyebrows raised over trust official’s visit

Eyebrows were raised when recently, a senior official of the LIT formally visited Model Town Extension, which was developed by the Trust and later handed over to the MC after five years of completion of all development works, as per statutory provisions. While MC officials took exception to this overstepping by their counterpart from the Trust, even senior LIT officials termed the act as ‘exceeding one’s authority’.

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