Survey on illegal colonies in Sohna begins, 12 found so far

GURUGRAM: The department of town and country planning (DTCP) has begun a survey to
identify illegal colonies in Sohna and adjoining areas. The team has identified 12 illegal colonies
till now, officials said. The survey is being conducted jointly by the district town planners of the
enforcement wing and headquarters on the orders of DTCP director TL Satyaprakash.
Mushrooming of illegal colonies in Sohna and nearby areas is posing a challenge to the civic
authorities in developing infrastructure and amenities for newly created sectors.
The state government has carved out new sectors in Sohna, Bhondsi, Farrukhnagar and
adjoining areas under the Gurgaon Master Plan 2031. Illegal colonies in these areas are
disrupting the development of the new sectors, DTCP officials said.
“We identified 12 such illegal colonies on Sohna road, Jhajjar-Farrukhnagar road and
Farrukhnagar bypass on Monday. These will be razed within a month and the land will be
cleared for developing infrastructure,” district town planner (enforcement) Manish Yadav said.
The state government has issued guidelines for illegal colonies developed before June 2022
and DTCP is working to regularise these colonies, apart from keeping a strict vigil to prevent the
mushrooming of illegal colonies after this period.
The DTCP director’s office has issued strict instructions to check illegal colonies, district town
planner (headquarters) RS Batth said. “Surveys are being conducted across the state and
action will be taken against offenders who are involved in developing illegal colonies,” he added.
Under the new registry system, landowners have to apply for a no-objection certificate (NOC) for
registration of areas falling under Section 7A of Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban
Areas Act, 1975.
Registration of the sale deed of a plot with a size less than 1 acre is not allowed without an NOC
from DTCP. Violation of the Act is a punishable offence with imprisonment of up to three years.
Complaints related to illegal colonies in and around the city spiked soon after the lockdown was
imposed. DTCP has carried out a total of 150 demolition drives in Sohna, Pataudi, Farrukhnagar
and Bhondsi since mid 2020.
To prevent offenders from redeveloping the illegal colonies, the department has also imposed
additional penalties on offenders by way of recovering demolition costs from them.
In the last two years, hundreds of acres of prime agricultural land have been converted into
illegal colonies in these areas.
DTCP freed a total of around 1,000 acres of land in and around the city last year, but several
such colonies still exist in these areas, many of which cropped up again after being demolished
by the department.