Hotel digging case: Amritsar MC sets up inquiry panel to check violations

Tribune News Service

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, August 3

Municipal Corporation Commissioner Kumar Saurabh Raj constituted an inquiry committee in the hotel digging case, where Grand Hotel and some residential accommodations got damaged due to digging by an under-construction hotel on Railway Link Road on May 12.

Joint Commissioner, Corporation, Deepjot Kaur has been appointed chairperson of the committee, while Superintending Engineers (Civil) Sandeep Singh, Dapinder Singh Sandhu and Municipal Town Planner (MTP) Meherban Singh have been appointed as members.

Report to be submitted in a week

• Joint Commissioner, Corporation, Deepjot Kaur has been appointed chairperson of the committee, while Superintending Engineers (Civil) Sandeep Singh, Dapinder Singh Sandhu and Municipal Town Planner Meherban Singh are the members
• The inquiry committee members visited the basement of the under-construction hotel. The scrutiny of documents will start on Thursday. The report in this regard is likely to be submitted within a week
• The MC’s inquiry committee will check the violations and suggest how damage can be compensated and what amendments are required in the building plan of the upcoming hotel

The MC Commissioner asked the committee to visit the spot, check the approved plan of the under-construction hotel along with all other documents and submit a report to him at the earliest.

The committee members have started investigation and visited the spot. The committee members visited the basement of the under-construction hotel here yesterday. The scrutiny of documents will be started by the committee members from tomorrow. The report in this regard is likely to be submitted within a week.

However, a detailed report has been submitted by the SDM-2 to the district administration and the Deputy Commissioner had suspended five Municipal Town Planning (MTP) wing officials while taking action on the report. Deputy Commissioner Harpreet Singh Sudan had suspended Municipal Town Planners (MTP) Iqbal Preet Singh Randhawa and Narendra Sharma, Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Parminderjit Singh, ATP Sajeev Devgan and building inspectors Varinder Mohan for negligence during the construction of the hotel and for endangering the life of the public on July 7.

After the collapse of a major portion of Grand Hotel and other buildings around the under-construction hotel on the railway link road on May 12, a probe panel was constituted by the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner.

A detailed inquiry was conducted by Harpreet Singh, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Amritsar-2, in which prima facie gross negligence, connivance and dereliction of duty have been found on part of the MTPs and ATPs.

Now, the MC’s inquiry committee will check the violations and suggest how damage can be compensated and what amendments are required in the building plan of the upcoming hotel.

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