Chandigarh: The Imperial is a state-of-the-art wedding venue situated on Mathura Road in Faridabad town of Haryana that can accommodate up to 600 guests at a time. Lotus Maple Garden, another such venue on the road, has the capacity of hosting 1,500 guests.
Scores of such venues, automobile showrooms, wine shops, toll plazas and other buildings have been constructed within the green belt along the national highways and scheduled roads in Haryana, according to the information provided by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the assembly in response to a query by Congress MLA B. B. Batra.
Even dhabas lined up along the highways in Murthal are guilty of flouting norms. Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba, Mannat Haveli Dhaba, Neelkanth Dhaba, 70-Milestone, Garam Dharam Dhaba, Park Blue Dhaba, Pahalwan Dhaba, Gulshan Dhaba, Mannat Dhaba, Ahuja Dhaba, Zamidara Dhaba, Jhilmil Dhaba, Mannat Di Rasoi, Hari Dhaba, Madan Dhaba, Mahadev Dhaba, Atul Vaishno Dhaba, Bajrangi Dhaba, Patiyala Dhaba are among the eateries that fall within green belt.
Over 1,500 unauthorised constructions, both residential and commercial, have been detected and many have been already demolished, according to the government. Many of these unauthorised structures are along the green belt area along the National Highway 44.
Constructions are not allowed in green belts and such spaces cannot be changed to residential or commercial ones.
In its response, the government also provided details of action taken by departments like Town & Country Planning Department, Urban Local Bodies Department, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority and PWD (B&R) in various annexures.
While Annexure ‘A’ contains the report provided by the Town and Country Planning Department on 813 buildings, Annexure ‘B’ has details of 57 buildings submitted by Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority. Similarly, Annexure ‘C’ contains a report of 17 buildings by Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority; Annexure ‘D’ lists 790 buildings identified by municipal bodies, and Annexure ‘E’ mentions 104 buildings whose details are provided by the PWD.
In the case of most of the Faridabad wedding venues, the annexure shows that show cause notices were served on 3 June last year, and restoration orders issued on 17 June. No FIRs were registered against the violators. Six were demolished on 20 June despite restoration orders.
When it comes to Karnal, authorities have neither issued notice nor carried out any demolition. No FIR was lodged either in this constituency which is represented by the chief minister in the assembly.
“A survey was conducted by the municipal corporation in 2019-2020 of the complete stretch of 17.884 km NH-44 falling within the Municipal Corporation Karnal. As per the survey, 226 construction including 38 open plots were existing on the eastern side of the national highway and 319 structures including 59 open plots were existing on the western side of the national highway,” says the remark column of the annexure.
Enforcement work was stopped during the Covid pandemic period but demolition drives are conducted on a regular basis from time to time, it added.
As for the dhabas in Murthal, the annexures don’t mention any action taken on them. But it mentions that encroachments on the green belt were done before the establishment of Municipal Corporation, Sonepat in 2015.
While replying to Batra’s question, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Friday said that the government has ensured the sternest action against such unauthorised constructions.
Informing that the government has identified more than 1,500 such buildings, Khattar said that if any information about any specific building comes to the government even after this, then appropriate action will also be taken on it.
If the opposition MLA has any more information about such buildings, then he should share the same with the government so that further action can be taken, he said.
Speaking to The Print after the day’s proceeding, Batra claimed unauthorised buildings were coming up within Haryana’s green belt along the national highways and scheduled roads with impunity. “This is all happening with the connivance of the state government. Green belts across the state are being finished by constructing unauthorised buildings on them. The authorities who are supposed to act conveniently look the other way,” Batra alleged.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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