Ludhiana MC identifies 55 illegal colonies in Zone C

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 17

The Municipal Corporation (MC), in a survey, has identified 55 illegal colonies in Zone C while new illegal colonies are still coming up in other parts of the city.

Moreover, a number of colonisers, who had earlier applied for regularisation of their colonies under the government’s regularisation policy, have also failed to submit the required documents but the MC is yet to take action in this regard till date.

Earlier this year, raising questions over the MC not taking action against the colonisers concerned, Kuldeep Singh Khaira of Vigilant Citizens’ Forum had demanded that the MC should conduct a survey of illegal colonies. Khaira said MC’s Zone C had provided information under an RTI that about 55 new illegal colonies had come up recently. Other zones had not provided him any information under the RTI, he maintained.

In 2018, the MC had provided information under the RTI that the colonisers of 128 illegal colonies had applied for regularisation but the files of only 22 colonies were sanctioned. When the Congress government had introduced regularisation policy in 2018, 38 illegal colonies had applied for it till December 2019.

Khaira alleged that most of the colonisers had failed to get their colonies regularised by submitting the required documents to date but the MC did not take any action against such colonisers. He further alleged that new illegal colonies were still mushrooming in the jurisdiction of the MC. He demanded that FIR should be registered against such colonisers under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act.

Municipal Town Planner SS Bindra said 182 illegal colonies had applied for regularisation while 35 illegal colonies had been regularised.

“We have lodged FIR against colonisers of 85 illegal colonies. Notices will be served to those colonisers who have not submitted their documents yet. If they do not fulfill the conditions, we will initiate further action as per the law,” he said. eanwhile, people who purchased plots and constructed houses in illegal colonies are suffering a lot due to lack of basic amenities. The colonisers are openly selling plots in these colonies by making false claims.

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