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Punjab monsoon mess: Probe ordered after roads turn into rivers in Zirakpur
Residents meet Punjab CM, probe underway into mushrooming of illegal colonies as deluge exposes nexus between builders and civic body officials besides lack of drainage
A week after roads turned into rivers in Zirakpur on the periphery of Chandigarh, the Mohali district administration has initiated a probe into the construction of about 60 illegal colonies in the town.
Several housing societies, markets and roads were inundated after barely 30mm of rainfall. In the absence of proper drainage, the town is dependent on choes and nullahs to drain out rainwater. In fact, the Zirakpur residents’ body joint action committee had complained about the illegal colonies to the Punjab chief minister’s office last month, after which an inquiry was ordered.
Mohali additional deputy commissioner (general) Komal Mittal, who is conducting the inquiry, said: “I have sought documents pertaining to the illegal colonies from the Zirakpur municipal council and will submit the report in seven days.”
Meanwhile, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has asked the revenue department to stop the registry of 23 more illegal colonies in Zirakpur, Gazipur, Peer Muchalla, and Nagla.
Joint action committee president Sukhdev Chaudhary, who is leading the campaign against the illegal colonies, said: “Colonisers are violating many a rule in Zirakpur. Most of them have illegally occupied government land and started construction. MC officials are in the know. So, we lodged a complaint with the CM’s office and finally an inquiry has begun.”
Newly appointed Zirakpur MC executive officer Girish Verma assured residents and said, “We will provide all related documents to the ADC and with the help of this report, we will also come to know about the illegal colonies.”
The pitfalls of the haphazard construction may have come to the fore last week but it is an old issue plaguing the town for years.
In February 2018, then Mohali additional deputy commissioner Charan Dev Singh Mann issued an inspection report in which he cited the connivance of the municipal council officials with builders as the root cause for the mushrooming illegal colonies and violations in projects in Zirakpur. “The situation on the ground is alarming and the safety of buyers and their hard-earned money is at stake,” he said in his report.
Unplanned, exponential growth
After more than a decade of unplanned development, Zirakpur got a master plan in 2009. But before it could be implemented, the town’s population exploded by 282% between 2001 and 2011. With the population expected to shoot up to 3 lakh by 2021, and 8 lakh by 2030, this urban sprawl stands little chance of orderly development.
Harish Gupta, the president of the Zirakpur Builders Association, said even the proposed road-7 (PR-7 or Airport Road) aligned with housing and commercial projects has been approved by the MC but no sewage line or rainwater management has been planned. “Despite charging an extra ₹5 lakh per acre as PR cess from the builders, the department provides no facility,” he said.
City of realtors and politicians
According to the Punjab local government department, there are 59 illegal colonies within MC limits even though unofficial sources say the numbers are higher. Ironically, most of these were developed after the master plan was notified.
Dera Bassi tehsil, of which Zirakpur is a part, has 57 illegal colonies in an area that falls under GMADA’s jurisdiction.
Of the 31 members of the Zirakpur MC, 20 councillors from both the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are either colonisers or realtors. Local SAD MLA NK Sharma is also in the realty business.
Vinay Kumar, the residents’ JAC vice-president, summed up the sentiments of most residents when he said, “We live in a city where elected representatives work for builders, not for residents. The illegal realty development needs to be stopped as the city is fast turning into an urban slum.”
