Following decisive action by the Panchkula Metropolitan Development Authority (PMDA) against the Nau Gaza Peer shrine on Tuesday for failing to comply with a November 11 directive, another illegal structure, the “Mandir of Pir Sultan Mohammad Khan” in Devi Nagar, Sector 3 (adjacent to the Zirakpur-Kalka highway), began voluntarily removing its temporary sheet structures on Wednesday.
PMDA officials confirmed the encroacher initiated the removal and the electricity department subsequently disconnected the power supply and removed the meter from the site. This shrine was served a similar removal notice on November 11, according to PMDA district town planner Sanjay Narang.
Meanwhile, the remaining illegal construction at Nau Gaza Peer was cleared on Wednesday, resulting in the total vacation of nine marla of government land, which the PMDA horticulture wing will now convert into a green belt, told officials.
The November 11 notice served to the shrine in Sector 3 demanded the vacation and removal of the unauthorised illegal religious structure from the green belt along the national highway. This action is mandated because such construction violates the zoning regulations of the development plan and exists on land under PMDA and NHAI jurisdiction, says notice. The notice was a continuation of an earlier one issued on July 8. As per the details, a total of approximately eight marla of land is encroached upon by the shrine.
The department’s stringent stance follows a Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) order issued on April 24. The shrine’s caretaker challenged the initial notice of July 8 in the HC. And pursuant to the HC’s direction on August 25, the PMDA examined and formally rejected the shrine’s representation and also passed the detailed speaking order on September 11.
{{/usCountry}}The department’s stringent stance follows a Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) order issued on April 24. The shrine’s caretaker challenged the initial notice of July 8 in the HC. And pursuant to the HC’s direction on August 25, the PMDA examined and formally rejected the shrine’s representation and also passed the detailed speaking order on September 11.
{{/usCountry}}Crucially, the November 11 notice directed the caretaker to remove the unauthorised construction from the acquired HSVP (now PMDA) land within two days, warning that failure to comply would lead to departmental demolition at the encroacher’s cost and with the recovery of expenses.
A similar two-day removal notice was also served by PMDA on November 11 to the Jahar Veer Goga Temple in Maheshpur village, Sector 21, for an unauthorised structure in the highway green belt. This shrine had approached the high court, and its representation was also rejected by the authority. Separately, the NHAI issued directions on November 12, giving the concerned agency seven days to remove the encroachment at the Jahar Veer Goga Temple.