Summary:
Kuldip BhatiaLudhiana, December 4Hundreds of illegal colonies proliferating all around the mega city have literally become a big thorn in the flesh of licensed developers who are made to face hordes of problems at the hands of unscrupulous developers of unlicensed colonies, mainly due to lax enforcement on the part of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA). Many city-based developers of approved colonies have admitted having suffered due to variety of gimmicks employed by developers of illegal colonies to dupe the gullible public by giving false and misleading advertisements in print and electronic media as well as social media platforms for selling plots in such colonies on the basis of tall promises which are never intended to be fulfilled. “Of late, some developers of unlicensed and illegal colonies have adopted a new technique to entrap unsuspecting buyers by naming their colonies similar to those developed by reputed colonizers, which ultimately cause damage to reputation and business of the licensed developers,” said Gulshan Kumar, Managing Director of GK Group, in a complaint lodged with the GLADA Chief Administrator. Some other city-based developers also said they had also been facing a similar situation as some unlicensed colonies were named almost similar to licensed colonies developed by them and buyers were often taken in by fraudulent tactics of unscrupulous developers. Calling upon the GLADA authorities to strengthen enforcement measures to rein in developers of illegal colonies and curb their unlawful and fraudulent acts with an iron hand, Gulshan Kumar said unless the regulatory body took a firm stand to safeguard the interests of genuine developers, the people would continue to fall prey to the developers of illegal colonies..