8 yrs on, Master Gurbanta Singh enclave lacks basic amenities

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, February 25

Residents of Indra Puram in Master Gurbanta Singh Enclave held a protest here today against the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) on the Gurbanta Singh enclave premises, demanding quick redress of their grievances. They accused the JIT of having failed to provide them basic amenities at the complex even after eight years.

In 2008, the JIT had allotted 13.97 acres for the development of the Master Gurbanta Singh enclave which was launched by the then Local Bodies Minister Late Chaudhary Jagjit Singh in the memory of his father late Master Gurbanta Singh and the trust promised two-storeyed apartments equipped with all basic facilities and good quality infrastructure, said president of the Indra Puram (flat owners) Welfare and Development Society Raman Kumar.

As per residents, a 40-foot approach road was promised at the venue, while the given road is only 11-foot wide. They said the trust authorities had ditched them by giving wrong information about the site as the complex even did not have a proper sewerage system.

KL Arora, secretary, coordination, Gurbanta Singh Enclave Indrapuram, said, “The JIT officials never stay true to their words. They had been fooling residents of Indrapuram for many years. There are a total of 888 flats in our area. The JIT had promised us separate entrance of 40ft wide road, but just 11 ft road was given which too is now blocked. We had been tired of complaining to the officials, but received no response so far.”

“We are now sick of the red tape, so we have decided to take the matter to the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum and we all will be filing complaint against the same on March 11. Till then, we demand quick solution to our problems and we ask the JIT to complete the work that lies in the same state for the past many years,” he added.

Another resident said, “How can we stay here as there is no proper electricity, roads, street lights and water and sewerage connections? We had even approached Chaudhary Santokh so many times on the issue, but no action has so far been taken in the matter.”

Despite repeated attempts, Executive Officer (EO), Jalandhar Improvement Trust, Rajesh Chaudhary, could not be contacted.