Nayagaon, March 12
Even as the Chandigarh Administration has not been able to solve its inter-state border dispute regarding several chunks of land with Punjab and Haryana, yet another case of Punjab’s land sharks eating into UT’s land has come to light.
As a result, the effective width of the road passing (maintained by the UT engineering department) from Punjab Engineering College (PEC) to Nayagaon has been reduced.
A wide patch of land that had been acquired by the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) in early seventies for widening of the road has now been encroached upon. A row of houses and shops raised on the land now form part of Nayagaon that falls in Punjab. The UT had then acquired the land to widen the road from PEC to Khuda Alisher village.
President of the Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat HS Bajwa said efforts were made to remove the encroachments, but those never fructified.
Land acquisition proceedings acquired by a resident of Khuda Ali Sher, Gurdyal Singh, reveals that the UT had acquired 15 ft wide patches of land on both the sides of the road. But with the passage of time, Nayagoan residents raised houses and shops with the UT never objecting to it.
Gurdyal has been consistently raising the issue with the UT Land Acquisition Collector. The UT officials have been maintaining the road, but they have never been able to remove encroachments.
It is not the only case. About two acres of UT land in Sector 63 had been encroached upon by Punjab in Mohali. The inter-state dispute resulted in inordinate delay in constructing multi-storeyed flats and the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) had to repeatedly change the alignment of its flats.
Similar disputes exist on the UT boundary with Haryana. The UT’s Land Acquisition Collector, Tilak Raj, was not available for comments. Sources in the UT said the issue was in the knowledge of senior officials but no sincere effort had been made to get the land vacated.
Even as the Chandigarh Administration has not been able to solve its inter-state border dispute regarding several chunks of land with Punjab and Haryana, yet another case of Punjab’s land sharks eating into UT’s land has come to light.
As a result, the effective width of the road passing (maintained by the UT engineering department) from Punjab Engineering College (PEC) to Nayagaon has been reduced.
A wide patch of land that had been acquired by the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) in early seventies for widening of the road has now been encroached upon. A row of houses and shops raised on the land now form part of Nayagaon that falls in Punjab. The UT had then acquired the land to widen the road from PEC to Khuda Alisher village.
President of the Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat HS Bajwa said efforts were made to remove the encroachments, but those never fructified.
Land acquisition proceedings acquired by a resident of Khuda Ali Sher, Gurdyal Singh, reveals that the UT had acquired 15 ft wide patches of land on both the sides of the road. But with the passage of time, Nayagoan residents raised houses and shops with the UT never objecting to it.
Gurdyal has been consistently raising the issue with the UT Land Acquisition Collector. The UT officials have been maintaining the road, but they have never been able to remove encroachments.
It is not the only case. About two acres of UT land in Sector 63 had been encroached upon by Punjab in Mohali. The inter-state dispute resulted in inordinate delay in constructing multi-storeyed flats and the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) had to repeatedly change the alignment of its flats.
Similar disputes exist on the UT boundary with Haryana. The UT’s Land Acquisition Collector, Tilak Raj, was not available for comments. Sources in the UT said the issue was in the knowledge of senior officials but no sincere effort had been made to get the land vacated.
