Farmhouses on Chandigarh’s periphery: Punjab Govt yet to formulate regularisation norms

The state government is finding it difficult to frame norms related to regularisation of farmhouses in the periphery of Chandigarh, given the forest laws and Supreme Court’s strict guidelines on land use in areas taken out of the purview of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900.

Recently, a committee was constituted by Secretary Housing Vikas Garg on the directions of Chief Secretary KAP Sinha to frame guidelines for regularisation of authorised structures.

Ironically, several persons, including politicians, and former bureaucrats own land in the area.

Officials privy to the development said, “Departments, including Housing, and Forest are not the same page. The area where structures stand is coming within the proposed eco-sensitive zone, expected to be notified soon by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.”

The issue has taken the centre stage after the Eco-Tourism Development Committee (EDC) rejected regularisation pleas of around 90 farmhouse owners, making it clear that the existing structures were in violation of the guidelines.

Sources said the recommendations of a sub-committee constituted under the Additional Chief Administrator (Policy), PUDA, allowing farmhouses up to 1 acre in the area governed by the PLPA and those taken out of its purview, have not found favour with the Forest and Tourism Departments.

Raising construction in the PLPA area requires permission from the Forest Ministry. For the areas taken out of the purview of the PLPA, the state government made the Housing Department and the Local Government responsible for framing guidelines in 2010, subject to the land being used for bonafide agricultural use and livelihood support for landowners, but prohibiting commercial activities.

A senior Forest Department functionary said before framing guidelines, the issue of Periphery Control Act, eco-sensitive zone and the Supreme Court’s rules regarding the area taken out of the PLPA had to be adhered to.