ENCROACHMENTS Harshraj Singh Ludhiana, November 12 Despite hundreds of encroachments in the city, the Municipal Corporation has not felt the need to hold a meeting of the anti-encroachment monitoring committee in the past two years. The last meeting was held on November 10, 2017. According to a few members of the monitoring committee and city-based activists, there are a large number of permanent and temporary encroachments in the city. The estimated cost of encroached land in the city could be in crores. A member of the committee, Col JS Brar said: “Many encroachments have also been raised by politically motivated or influential persons. The Municipal Corporation and other authorities concerned have a soft corner for such encroachers. Despite knowing that costly pieces land is under illegal possession, the officials concerned have turned a blind eye towards these violations.” “We used to highlight the issues related to encroachments on public streets and government land at the past meetings. But it is very shocking that the MC authorities have conducted no meeting of the monitoring committee in the past two years. The meeting should be held every month,” he added. An RTI activist, Kuldeep Singh Khaira, said: “Even the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court are being ignored as the civic body has failed to take action against many identified encroachments. Even no action is taken to remove encroachments from green belts and parks in the city. We don’t understand as to why the government is least serious to get these encroachments removed. A probe must be conducted as to why the MC has failed to check encroachments and action must be taken against erring officials.” In February 2019, an official had stated that they had sought legal advice over the issue of anti-encroachment monitoring committee meetings. However, no decision has been taken in this regard.

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