Illegal colonies: Only 13 apply for regularisation

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 24

With six days left for applying for regularisation of illegal colonies (January 31 is the last date), only 13 colonisers have applied so far. Officials of the Municipal Corporation are expecting that more colonisers will apply for regularisation. There are more than 50 colonies in the city.

The Municipal Town Planning (MTP) wing of the MC is now planning to take strict action against illegal colonies. Recently, a police case was registered against the owners of an illegal colony. Iqbalpreet Singh Randhawa, Municipal Town Planner (MTP), asked the owners of illegal colonies to pay the fee for the regularisation of colonies.

A team of officials of the MTP wing had visited around 30 illegal colonies in and around the city within MC limits. They found that 15 colonies were developed by violating the basic bylaws. The MTP wing officials have written to the Commissioner of Police to register a case against the colonisers.

On Thursday, the MTP wing team had demolished five structures in an illegal colony on Batala Road. The owners were constructing the buildings without approving their plans. A team, led by Building Inspector Paramjit Singh, visited Dr Shwinder Singh Colony and partially demolished the under-construction houses. The officials said they had asked the colonisers to get the colony regularized before the construction of houses, but they sold the plots and initiated the construction.

“We have asked the colonisers to take the benefit of the government scheme to regularise the colony. We have received some applications and several colonisers have not applied yet. We will take strict action against illegal colonies,” said Parmjit Singh, an official of the MTP wing.