Ghaziabad Development Authority seals 34 banquet halls on Meerut Road, owners stage protest

Nearly 100 protesters staged a sit-in in front of GDA headquarters and also met senior officials of the GDA in a bid to reopen their facilities.

In order to decongest the busy section of Meerut Road from Ghaziabad to Modi Nagar, the Ghaziabad development authority sealed 34 banquet halls on Wednesday and is contemplating action against 12 more.

Owners of sealed 34 banquet halls on erstwhile NH-58 stage a protest. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The officials said that the sealing was done as the banquet halls were not following norms and were in violation of zoning regulations.

Aggrieved by the action, the banquet hall owners and “traders’ welfare association” members on Wednesday arrived at the GDA headquarters and staged a protest against the sealing drive.

Nearly 100 protesters staged a sit-in in front of GDA headquarters and also met senior officials of the GDA in a bid to reopen their facilities.

“The GDA officials claimed that they have acted under pressure from court orders but no order was shown to us. They did not serve us a notice before sealing and said the halls were sealed after the former district magistrate wrote to the GDA vice-chairperson about decongesting the Meerut Road section,” said Vivek Tyagi, a protester.

“For the past three years, we have been approaching the authority and have also submitted documents. Around 10 days ago, the authority officials came and said our documents were not in the proper order. Thereafter, the sealing was done. This will affect our wedding bookings in the coming months,” said Pawan Panwar, a banquet hall owner.

According to the town planning department officials, banquet halls can operate on land designated for residential areas, old built-up area (in old city areas), wholesale businesses, light industries, office, entertainment, community facilities and mixed commercial areas.

“The bylaws state that a minimum of 1,500 square metres are required and it should be located near a road having a width of 80 feet or above. The facilities are not allowed in areas meant for streets, institutional areas, traffic and transport, green belt, agricultural land and institutional green areas,” said Ishtiyak Ahmad, chief architect & town planner, GDA.

A petition was filed before the National Green Tribunal last week by Akash Vashistha and Sushil Raghav, both Ghaziabad residents, demanding closure of party halls/banquet halls and farmhouses running in violation of norms and penal action against officials who failed to act.

GDA officials said they sealed these banquet halls in 2013 (after issuing notices) but they began operations illegally. Six FIRs were also lodged after the seals were found broken.

A majority of the sealed banquet halls are running on agricultural land, green belts and other areas where they are not supposed to operate as per building bylaws. A number of them have not got a map clearance, officials said.

“They have been running facilities without map approvals on agricultural and green belts. Most of the banquet halls have no provision for parking facilities. When we presented our view to the banquet hall owners, they had no answers. We also have several court orders and directions on the basis of which we took up the sealing activity,” said Hira Lal Singh, executive engineer, GDA.

“We have 12 more banquet halls on our radar. Action against them will be initiated soon. Those who have complied with the norms will be allowed to operate,” he added.