Kuldip Bhatia Ludhiana July 10 Agricultural land lying along the Sidhwan canal expressway (southern bypass) from the Dugri-Dhandra area right up to Doraha seems to have become the favourite and fertile hunting ground for unscrupulous developers. As of now dozens of illegal and unlicensed colonies are under various stages of development with many of these already having completed internal development works while some others had the temerity to connect their internal sewer lines with the sewerage network of the Municipal Corporation without any permission or payment of external development charges. Slack enforcement not only on the part of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) along with other departments concerned like Irrigation and Forests has led to a situation where development of colonies is being undertaken on agricultural land or else land owned by the Irrigation Department (canals) or Forest Department with impunity. A city-based social activist Rachpal Singh Gabria has lodged a complaint with the Punjab Government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development with copies to senior officials of PUDA and GLADA saying several illegal colonies are coming up in the vicinity of Canal View Colony along the Sidhwan canal expressway where the promoter have not obtained any license from the competent authority nor has any change of land got approved on payment of stipulated fee. “Developers of these colonies are not only causing a huge loss of revenue to the government and adding to haphazard development but also the colonies are being aggressively marketed and advertised to befool unsuspecting people who are investing their hard-earned money in these colonies without knowing that the developers may not provide them the promised amenities. In addition to privately owned agricultural land some developers have gone ahead with encroaching upon the land owned by the Irrigation and Forest Departments by fudging or fabricating revenue records” said the complaint. Seeking stern directions to the GLADA authorities to take action against the developers of illegal colonies for violations of provisions made under the Sub-sections 12 of the Section 5 and Sub-section 1 of the Section 21 of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act (PAPRA) 1995 the complainant has also called for strict action for immediate removal of encroachments from land under the ownership of the Irrigation and Forest Departments.

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