MC to demolish encroachments on Sanguana Basti pond

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 22

The Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB) has geared up to demolish illegal encroachments on the Sanguana Basti pond and has issued notices to 16 encroachers on this site.

As per information, the MCB has planned to demolish these structures on Monday.

MCB officials have also written to the Police Department to provide them adequate force for the demolition drive.

It is learnt that MCB officials have taken a nod for the action from Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s office.

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath has also been informed about the demolition drive.

MCB officials would also conduct video-graphing of the happenings.

It was also decided that ponds would be beautified after desilting and greenbelt would be developed.

In the past three-four years, various shops and buildings have come up on public land.

This would be the biggest demolition drive by the MCB of late.

Even SAD councillor of the area, Santosh Mahant, had repeatedly raised the issue of encroachments on the Sanguana Basti pond.

She also raised a question over the payment of property tax of the Sanguana Basti land, which belongs to the MCB.

Earlier, a committee was constituted by the Mayor on illegal buildings in the city, but it dissolved without taking any action.

Many illegal buildings have come up in the past 10 years in the city and 1,383 notices had been issued by the department during this period.

There are 533 cases in which the MCB building branch issued notices under Section 269 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, to demolish the illegal buildings. However, nothing much seems to have been done on this despite the notices having being issued.

Now, after Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s directions, the MCB has already demolished three buildings at the Mansa road and Jujhar Singh Nagar in the city.

The MCB also demolished a showroom and warned others to remove their material in a few days, but after public hue and cry over the issue across the state, the drive was stopped until the one-time settlement policy of the state government is implemented.

Action on Monday

• As per information, the MCB has planned to demolish these structures on Monday.