Probe ordered into illegal constructions in Ludhiana

Tribune News Service

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, April 6

With the change of guard, the Local Government Department has ordered a fact-finding probe into thousands of illegal structures that have come up in the jurisdiction of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. Similar illegal constructions in the municipal areas of Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala and Bathinda are also not being ruled out.

Causing loss of crores of rupees in property tax and layout approval fee between 2016 and 2021, an internal inquiry report submitted to the office of the Local Government Minister, ahead of the enforcement of the election model code of conduct, had put a figure of around 55,000 illegal structures in the jurisdiction of the Ludhiana MC alone.

A mapping of the record of power connections provided by the PSPCL with the total layout plans approved and property tax receipts has revealed a big mismatch in official records. In a number of cases, the records revealed that evaluation of the property tax based on the covered areas of the properties did not match with actual covered area.

With the new AAP government displaying a zero tolerance towards corruption, Principal Secretary (Local Government) Ajoy Sinha has constituted a three-member committee to ascertain the facts and submit the report at the earliest. The committee has been thoroughly probing the facts brought out in the report submitted to the previous Local Government Minister by former MC Additional Commissioner Rishi Pal. The Principal Secretary said he could comment only after the committee submits its report.

Another senior official said the figures of illegal constructions quoted by the former MC Additional Commissioner also included the structures that did not fall within the jurisdiction of the corporation.

What internal report says

Between 2016 and 2021, a total of 76,770 power connections were issued in areas falling within MC limits. Against this, the civic body approved only 7,467 building plans and issued challans against 11,441 buildings. No action was taken in the remaining cases.

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