Illegal construction on in lake’s catchment area

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 17

In a first, a Court Commissioner appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court has relied upon drone images, Google Earth Pro timeline and professional GPS to show the carrying out of construction activity in the Sukhna Lake catchment area with impunity and in complete violation of the judicial orders.

Advocate Vikas Suri also minced no words to say that the state instrumentality was, in a way, supporting new construction in the area. He also reported that construction was being carried out in the catchment area falling in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. Suri suggested surprise visits for detecting several under-construction buildings in the catchment area, which were at different stages of completion.

In his 13-page report submitted before the High Court, Suri said he noticed that many under-construction houses and buildings had metered electricity supply from the state Electricity Department; and its officials visited the installation site for fixing the electricity meters. The meter readers too were making periodic visits to jot down the energy consumption. “In a way, the state instrumentality was supporting such new construction in the area,” Suri submitted. He was accompanied by amicus curiae or the friend of the court Tanu Bedi during the visit. He added that similar was the situation regarding potable water in Kansal, where it was supplied to new construction sites from tube wells and fixed monthly charges were levied. Yet, the authorities concerned failed to report it.

Suri also told the Bench that the impression he gathered during the visits was that many under-construction sites stopped activity for the date of visit and stored construction supporting material to avoid detection. It was evident from drone video footage, which showed the manner in which people could be scurrying with the implements before storing them away from sight.

Suri also told the Bench that he spent considerable time browsing Google Earth Pro. A comparison of the timeline images taken by the satellite of the Kansal area revealed that construction had come up over a period of time.

Suri added that his visit also revealed a common practice — to raise the structures, plaster the outer wall and cover these with an advertisement white in colour ostensibly to avoid detection of new construction from the approach road.

Suri said a drone provided by the police was used to scan the area to spot construction activity and bulk construction material in the area before proceeding to the particular spot for closer inspection and to take photographs.

The High Court, in May 2012, had directed Punjab and Haryana, along with the UT, to not just stop construction activity in the catchment area of the lake, but also to demolish without notice any construction being carried out against the its mandate.