Illegal restaurants, cafes on Gurugram Leopard Trail face demolition

GMDA said it has issued notices to the owners of these establishments to get change of land use permission otherwise their facilities will be demolished

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) on Monday said it will demolish 13 unauthorised commercial establishments located on the Leopard Trail near Gairatpur Bas village in Gurugram unless their owners get the requisite permissions. GMDA officials said they received several complaints from local residents about these establishments and following an inspection, issued notices to their owners to get permissions as per rules.

The one-kilometre stretch in Gairatpur Bas village is known as Leopard Trail because of the frequent leopard sightings in the area due to its contiguity to the Aravallis. (HT Archive)

GMDA said these establishments — illegal restaurants, makeshift eateries, and amusement parks — have been built on agricultural land that has been leased for a period of eight to 10 years from land owners at a rent of ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh per month in complete violation of urban development rules.

“Last week, we inspected the area and found 13 illegal restaurants, cafes, and similar establishments operating without any permission in the area. These cafés and restaurants do not have CLU (change of land use) permission. Even swimming pools have been made operational without any consent from the competent authority. We have already issued notices to the owners of these establishments and told them either to take CLU permission from us at the earliest or a fresh notice will be served to them after which demolition will be carried out,” said RS Bhath, district town planner, GMDA.

The one-kilometre stretch in Gairatpur Bas village, which is known as Leopard Trail because of the frequent leopard sightings in the area due to its contiguity to the Aravallis, has emerged as one of the most popular eating and amusement destinations in the city with hundreds of people visiting these restaurants on weekends.

“We are surveying all 42 villages under our jurisdiction for similar violations and strict action will be taken in such matters. To expedite action against similar encroachments and violations, we also appeal to city residents to inform us about these violations,” Bhath added.

In a separate development, the enforcement team of the department of town and country planning on Monday demolished an illegal colony at Kiranki village in Sohna, 12 shops in Sancholi, and two structures and a boundary wall in Bhogpur village, said Manish Yadav, district town planner, enforcement.