Gurugram: Gates can no longer be installed at will inside colonies

GURUGRAM: Gates can no longer be installed at will inside colonies. They also can’t be built on the main (24-metre-wide) internal roads that connect two sectors. And any move to install a gate on roads where they are permitted will have to be routed to the police for an assessment of its security need.

These decisions were the main outcomes of a meeting on Monday in which the district town planner and deputy commissioner Yash Garg took up complaints and requests related to gates in colonies and societies.

Town planner RS Batth said according to the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, any gate put up on 24-metre-wide roads, sector-dividing roads or any public road is illegal. Residential societies, he said, could have controlled access only on internal roads but only through boom barriers and round-the-clock security.

The town and country planning (TCP) department will soon survey gates that have been erected by residents’ groups, builders or individuals. “If any violation is found, the gates will be dismantled,” Bathh said, adding the TCP “will not allow any hindrance that causes inconvenience to the public at large”.

Internal roads within residential blocks can be allowed to install boom barriers but after an examination of security issues, Batth said. “There has to be a security guard at all such boom barriers so that it can be managed in case of any emergency,” he added.

If gates have been erected gates in the past and with permission from a competent authority, like HSVP, MCG or others, colonies will have to display the opening and closing hours and strictly follow the guidelines, failing which they may face action, according to the town planner.

In cases where residents want to erect gates, they have to seek approval from the police and get the security threat assessed. “Only after that will it be approved by the department of town and country planning,” Batth said.

Deputy commissioner Garg told TOI he had received several applications for installation of gates on internal and other public roads by groups of residents, citing security. “Therefore, the meeting was called to address these issues and bring clarity on norms for installation of gates,” he said, adding there were some issues related to blocking of revenue roads and it was clarified in the meeting that no revenue road can be blocked by a builder or residents.

In the past, residents in several licensed colonies have complained that gates were being installed without permission from a competent authority and hindered free movement, especially during emergencies.

Lalit Suraj Bhola, general secretary of Sector 9A RWA, however, said that the district administration was opening a can of worms by removing gates. “Crimes like teasing, chain snatching, vehicle theft, burglaries, etc will rise and residents won’t feel safe anymore. Administration is overconfident of its police but in reality if the police was of any help, then the gates would not been put up in first place. Besides, we have taken due permission and follow the guidelines of the HSVP in regards to gates timing,” he said.

Chaitali Mandhotra, Ardee City’s RWA member, said, “The administration and police should have better coordination as the latter itself insist upon having gates to enhance security of a residential colony. Our colony has witnessed several incidents of thefts in the past. The administration should take security aspects into account before making any such regulations that would jeopardize the safety and security of people and their properties.”