Illegal construction rampant in Gurugram, five buildings in upscale colonies sealed

GURUGRAM: The department of town and country planning (DTCP) has sealed five residential
buildings in upscale colonies — Sushant Lok 1, Greenwood City, South city 1 and Orchid Island — for
violating building norms.
A DTCP official said in one of the buildings in South city 1, seven storeys were constructed in violation
of the rules and was being used as a PG accommodation.
In most cases, the illegal structures were constructed on smaller plots —60 sq yards — earmarked for
EWS category without seeking mandatory permission from competent authorities.
The violators have carried out unauthorised construction in the buildings after procuring occupation
certificates (OCs) from the department, which is in violation of Haryana Building Code.

The action was taken on the basis of seven complaints received on the CM window.
The office of district town planner (enforcement) said that after receiving the complaint, a team was
constituted and sent to the sites for inspection. Upon their visit, the complaints proved to be correct.
Nitin Agarwal, a resident of South City 1, said there has been unauthorised construction in most of the
residential buildings in the colony.
The department should carry out regular checks and seal the properties of offenders, he said. “In last one
month, the department issued show cause notices and restoration orders in all these cases, but when no
satisfactory response was received from property owners, the department’s enforcement team carried out
a sealing drive on Thursday,” a DTCP official said.

Last week, a DTCP team had sealed five residential buildings in DLF 1 and 2 and South City 2 and a
maintenance office set up in the parking area of an affordable housing project for violating Section 3 of
the Haryana Building Code. According to Section 3, nobody can construct or reconstruct a building in a
licensed colony without taking mandatory permissions. If a violation is found, the punishment can include jail term or fine or both. DTCP officials also said that raising huge unauthorised structures beyond permissible limits is not only
causing undue pressure on provisioning of essential basic amenities and infrastructural service planned and developed for a particular population in that area by agencies, but also causing nuisance for residents

Residents alleged these activities were not only leading to loss of revenue to the state exchequer but also
causing inconvenience to the residents by putting additional burden on the infrastructure and leading to
parking woes.
“There is provision of using 25 per cent space on the ground floor of residential plots for non-nuisance
activities like clinic, lawyer and other offices but none of the properties had taken any such permission
from the department,” an official said.