Amritsar, June 7 On the last day of submitting Form-B for regularisation of illegal buildings in the walled city under the new Amritsar Walled City (Recognition of Usage) Act 2019, around 347 hotel building owners submitted the same to the MC office. Earlier, 350 illegal building owners had submitted their forms last month, but did not provide self-declaration about the building structure and plan, that is Form-B. In 2017, the state government had amended the Amritsar Walled City Act and proposed a one-time settlement policy for illegal hoteliers. As many as 216 hoteliers had filed applications for regularisation of their properties. After scrutinising the applications, the Municipal Corporation (MC) found that not even a single hotel fulfilled the building bylaws and recommendations of the Act. Even after the Punjab and Haryana High Court imposed construction ban in the walled city in 2012, more than 350 hotels have on record applied for regularisation. The petitioner in the case, Sarbjit Singh Verka, said it raised a big question on the functioning of the MC. These 350 hotel buildings can’t be constructed without the connivance of MC officials, he said. “Hoteliers have constructed 350 five to eight storey buildings in broad daylight even after the court’s ban. Where were the town planning officials of the MC? Construction of new hotels is still going on,” he said. Now, the petitioner will challenge the construction of these hotel and violation of buildings laws under new policy.

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