Punjab: Panel to frame norms to check illegal structures in delisted areas

The Punjab Government has constituted a committee of the Housing and Urban Development Department to frame policy guidelines to regulate unauthorised constructions in the areas taken out of the purview of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900.

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The committee has been constituted by the Secretary, Housing, Vikas Garg, on the directions of the Chief Secretary, KAP Sinha, days after the state’s Eco-Tourism Development Committee (EDC) rejected regularisation pleas of around 90 farmhouse owners, including politicians and former bureaucrats, who undertook construction in the periphery of Chandigarh.

The EDC, headed by Secretary, Forests and Wildlife, Priyank Bharti, had in April last rejected the cases, making it clear that the existing structures were in violation of the guidelines.

The Forest Department has categorised farmhouses in two groups — those constructed in the areas delisted under the PLPA and the ones that have come up in the areas under the PLPA. A majority of these are in the delisted areas.

Sources said the department would prosecute around 20 farmhouse owners, whose structures fell in the areas covered under the PLPA, under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Wildlife Protection Act, 1927, and for violation of the Supreme Court’s orders.

Officials in the Forest Department said as the unauthorised constructions were not under their purview, the committee would coordinate with officials of the Tourism Department, Local Government Department and other departments to give policy recommendations regarding the unauthorised constructions. Though the panel is expected to look at the constructions across the state, the focus will be on structures in Chandigarh's periphery.

In the past, the Forest Department has written to the Housing Department Department to act against those who have constructed farmhouses and palatial structures in the delisted areas in the periphery of Chandigarh. In some cases, plotting was being done by developers in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines on delisted forest areas.

“The areas falls within the eco-sensitive zone of the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary and come under the purview of the Periphery Control Act. The violators include retired IAS, IPS officers, politicians and influential persons who are running commercial activity from farmhouses and resorts,” said a senior Forest Department functionary.