Panchkula March 3:
With a view to address the problem of illegal slums in Panchkula, a blueprint has been prepared to remove such slums from different places in the city.
Haryana Vidhan Speaker, Gian Chand Gupta today presided over a joint meeting of senior officers of Urban Local Bodies Department, Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikarna (HSVP), District Administration, Panchkula, Municipal Corporation and Police Administration in this regard and gave them strict instructions.
This meeting which was convened to deal with the problem of different encroachments in Panchkula was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, S.N. Roy, Chief Administrator, HSVP, Ajit Balaji Joshi, Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula, Mukesh Ahuja, Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Kulbhushan Goyal, Police Commissioner, Saurabh Singh and other senior officers.
In the meeting, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta emphasized the need to remove encroachment from the city. He said that the problem of encroachment is the main obstacle in the way of making Panchkula a smart city and added that the encroachments on streets, markets and government lands in the city should be viewed seriously. He said that as slums have been developed at many places in the city, large projects which are to be established in Panchkula are hanging fire. He directed the authorities that the slums built on the land identified for big projects should be removed on priority basis.
In the meeting, Mr Gupta also referred to various methods adopted to remove encroachments in Chandigarh and other cities in the past. On this, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Local Bodies, S.N. Roy said that there are few such leaders who took initiative for removing the encroachments as often the leaders keep their eyes close on illegal encroachments for vote bank. But, the commitment of Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Gian Chand Gupta to remove such encroachments is praiseworthy, he added.
Other officers present in the meeting were also of the view that to make Panchkula a smart city, it is necessary to show strictness on illegal occupation and encroachment. Directions were also issued in the meeting to take action against the architects who pass maps for government lands. Gupta said that such architects should be blacklisted and appropriate action be taken against them.
He also directed that the process for the division of work between the Urban Local Bodies Department and HSVP should be made more simplified as both the departments also look after the works related to maintenance of parks, repair of roads and providing drinking water.
He said that the division of work between these two departments should be very clear so that people need not to make frequent rounds of different departments for the same work. He said it is possible that in the future all the community centers of the city would come under the control of Municipal Corporation. Till now, the maintenance of these community centers is with the HSVP.
