No end to violations in Trust colonies

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, June 16

Even after drawing flak from top brass of the Local Government Department, the Vigilance Wing of the Local Government and faced with several civil writ petitions and contempt proceedings in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for failure to check illegal construction activity and flagrant violation of building bylaws, field staff and supervisory officials of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT), it seems to have not learnt any lesson. Illegal construction continues in most of the colonies developed and maintained by the Trust, with Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar on Pakhowal Road here being on the top of the list of offenders.

Those behind violation of building norms and standard design, illegal change of land use and flouting terms and conditions of allotment of plots/sites have no fear of law is evident in the manner in which standard design and building rules are being violated and illegal change of land use resorted to in the shop-cum-flats (SCFs) in the main market of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar.

In an under-construction building of SCFs in this colony, clubbing of two sites is clearly visible, which is not permitted as per terms and conditions of allotment of commercial sites for SCFs and SCOs, or for that matter even in residential plots or flats. However, even after complaints were lodged by the residents of the colony to the supervisory officials of the LIT, the construction work is going on unchecked on the site.

Similarly, 100 per cent coverage – which is again not permissible under the building rules, in the case of residential buildings, has become a routine rather than exception in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar Colony.

“Action taken by the officials and field staff of the Engineering Branch of the Trust is confined to issuing notices and challans without any follow up action as provided in the relevant act and rules,” said Arvind Sharma, Secretary of the Council of RTI Activists, who has lodged a complaint against the illegal construction activity in the colony with the Principal Secretary, Local Government Department, Punjab, and the Vigilance Wing of the Local Government Department, Punjab. Over one dozen other residents of the colony are among the signatories to the complaint.

In the complaint, the residents of the colony said the manner in which free run had been given to the allottees for carrying out illegal construction, illegal change of land use and violation of standard design as well as other terms and conditions of the allotment, it became clear that the staff and officials of the Trust were hand in glove with the violators.

The residents have demanded a high-level probe into the working of the Engineering Branch of the LIT, and specifically against those officials who have had an extraordinary long stay here which often give rise to vested interests. “At the same time, stern action should be taken to curb illegal building activity and strict enforcement of building norms in the colony,” the residents demanded.