Theft incidents continue at banquet hall in Sector 43: Residents

A private contractor at the site, responsible for building a separate senior citizens’ club at the premises, said the latest theft was reported on New Year’s Eve when steel pipes kept at the hall were stolen.

The residents of about 12 housing societies in Sector 43 have alleged that valuables worth crores had been stolen from a banquet hall in the area since its inauguration in 2013.

Broken and damaged roof ceilings seen inside the hall. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

“Built at about ₹7 crore, the hall has been left without a proper security system for all these years. Today, only the empty building remains, and that too in a dilapidated state. Our repeated complaints to the local police were not taken seriously,” said retired brigadier (VSN) SKS Rana, a resident of nearby Navyug society.

Vasu Sashti, a representative of the Sanskriti Apartments’ residents’ welfare association (RWA), said: “We would hear loud noises of someone breaking into the premises, cutting fire pipelines, and extinguishers in 2020. The thefts continued until last year, with no action taken against those involved. Fans, lights and roof ceilings were stolen from the premises. Not a single event has ever been organised there since its inauguration.”

Meanwhile, the local police claimed that no complaints had been made regarding the thefts.

A private contractor at the site, responsible for building a separate senior citizens’ club at the premises, said the latest theft was reported on New Year’s Eve when steel pipes kept at the hall were stolen. “The only security guard stationed at the site was replaced after the incident. CCTV cameras are being planned to be installed for the supervision of the hall,” the contractor told HT, requesting anonymity.

Manoj Chauhan, a resident of the nearby Sanskriti Apartments, said the hall is of no use to residents of the 12 societies in the vicinity, for whom the hall was planned.

Vimal Deep, executive engineer at the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran’s (HSVP’s) Division 1, said the agency had finalised a ₹1.14 crore-tender for the revamp of the site in December 2025.

“The renovation work and construction of the senior citizens’ club is expected to be completed by June 2026. It will include the reinstallment of all missing fittings, including its pipelines, fire safety infrastructure, fans and lighting valves,” Deep said.

When asked about the theft complaints, the executive engineer stated that the responsibility of managing the banquet hall’s security lay with the estate of HSVP.

However, an official from HSVP’s estate office said that a complaint filed on the CM Window portal regarding the banquet hall’s sanctioned land use and its security by one of the residents had been recently closed. “The complaint was required to be filed before the HSVP’s division office and not us,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Notably, two RTI applications seeking details of the conversion of the venue, which initially planned as a community centre, to a banquet hall in 2017 and 2018 led to HSVP officials admitting the hall’s files for its sanctioned use were missing from its offices.

The vigilance cell of HSVP was directed by then the state chief information commissioner Yash Pal Singal to order an inquiry into the case in April 2021.

According to residents, however, no action was taken against the concerned HSVP officials for misplacing the files of the hall’s sanctioned transfer of land use.

Meanwhile, a senior officer at Sushant Lok police station claimed that no complaints had been made regarding theft at the banquet hall. “We haven’t received any complaints. However, our patrolling units continuously monitor the entire vicinity, including the banquet hall, to ensure no thefts take place. Police will review the security of the hall,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.