Town planner attacked by property owner during demolition drive in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: The district town planner of Gurugram came under attack from angry villagers in Dharampur on Thursday as a property owner tried to run him over with his tractor during a demolition drive. The senior official sustained injuries in his leg. So far, no police complaint has been filed.

RS Batth, the town planner, was leading a team of the enforcement wing of the department of town and country planning (DTCP) to raze unauthorised commercial structures in the village.

“Unauthorised construction of nearly 25 shops had taken place in Dharampur. We carried out the demolition drive with the help of 50 police personnel, but faced stiff resistance from the locals who seemed agitated,” Batth said. He added that the owner tried to restrict the movement of JCBs and halt the demolition drive. However, the situation was tackled and the unauthorised construction was razed, he said.

As per norms, no construction and division of land is permitted without DTCP approval in areas that have been notified as ‘controlled’. However, many residential projects are at various stages of development in Sector 108, and shops and other commercial structures have also come up in violation of the master plan. After receiving several complaints, the department had issued a notice for demolition to the villagers. The property owner then approached the Punjab and Haryana high court but failed to get any relief.

A DTCP permit is required for changing land use (CLU) to convert agriculture into non-agriculture land.

Thereafter, for constructing any commercial or residential structure, an additional licence fee needs to be paid to the department. To avoid paying the fee, many people have illegally constructed commercial facilities, causing a huge loss of revenue to the government. Moreover, it has also led to unplanned development in violation of the master plan.

In new sectors, especially, unauthorised construction has emerged as a challenge for the department. Batth said the demolition drive against illegal colonies will continue in the coming days.