Chandigarh: The decision to allow the construction of stilt plus four buildings (S+4) in Haryana was taken by Chief Minister Nayab Saini’s government under the influence of the builders’ lobby, Haryana Assembly Speaker and BJP’s Panchkula MLA Gian Chand Gupta has said, revealing cracks in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Speaking with The Print Saturday, Gupta, who has written to Saini not to implement the decision in the state or at least Panchkula, said he would draw the notice of the central leaders to the “anti-people” decision taken by the Haryana government under the influence of the builders’ lobby.
On July 4, ThePrint published the report, ‘Pressured by builders or for public good? Haryana reversing ban on stilt+4 buildings raises concerns’, after Saini’s government announced its decision to reverse the ban on stilt plus four buildings under certain conditions.
The ban came in February 2023 when Manohar Lal Khattar was the chief minister amid protests by residents‘ welfare associations (RWAs). While former Army chief General V.P. Malik had led the charge against “haphazard apartmentalisation” in Panchkula, Speaker Gupta had played a major role in convincing the government to enforce the ban.
The reversal of the ban now has raised many eyebrows, as well as concerns over how such constructions might lead to overcrowding in sectors and place additional stress on civic resources.
“After my persuasion that the policy was not in the public’s interest, Khattar initially banned S+4 constructions in Panchkula alone but later extended the ban across the state,” said Gupta.
“The Khattar government then constituted a committee under retired IAS officer P. Raghavendra Rao to provide a report on whether such constructions should be allowed statewide. When Rao’s report was submitted in July last year, the Khattar government did not act upon it. However, the current government led by Nayab Saini has selectively implemented the report to benefit the builders’ lobby,” said Gupta, questioning the explanation of government officials that the ban was reversed in light of the report.
“I was not even consulted before announcing the lifting of the ban on S+4 constructions. The builders’ lobby influenced the decision. I have written to Saini to stop the implementation of this decision. If this doesn’t happen, I will meet senior BJP leaders at the Centre and take up the matter with them,” said Gupta.
Speaking about the problems the government’s decision will create for residents, Gupta said that those who can’t spend money on converting their old houses into S+4 would be deprived of sunlight and air because of the construction of five-storey buildings around them.
The S+4 buildings will be allowed to have stilt parking on the ground floor and four floors above it.
Gupta said the implementation of the new order would increase pressure on the existing infrastructure and facilities when drinking water is already becoming scarcer during the summers and because the sewer lines were constructed under the current building plans.
Gupta also said that nearly every household has two cars on average, so the stilts would not be enough and that private vehicles would continue to block the roads. “In most cases, stilts are used by doctors at their clinics, advocates and CAs at their offices, or for other commercial activities,” Gupta said.
General V.P. Malik, who had written to Khattar last year for a ban on S+4 buildings, has also written to Saini against the new order.
Speaking with The Print Saturday, General Malik said he couldn’t share a copy of the letter but said he expressed the view that allowing S+4, particularly in the existing sectors under the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), is a very wrong decision.
Haryana’s Minister of Town & Country Planning and Urban Estates J.P. Dalal, who, on 2 July, announced the government’s decision to permit S+4 constructions in the state, didn’t respond to the calls by ThePrint on Saturday.
While announcing the policy, Dalal had said the move would benefit the public though the RWAs claim the decision was taken under pressure from the builders’ lobby.
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What Gupta said in his letter
On Saini’s government reversing the ban on S+4 buildings, Gupta’s letter said, “The facts of representation duly signed by about 5000 people of Panchkula City were not duly considered. There is gross resentment amongst the residents of Panchkula for allowing it again. The number of Residents’ Welfare Associations and Sangharsh Samiti (Struggle Committee) headed by General (Retd.) V.P. Malik, retired officers and senior citizens have raised voices against this decision and are again opposing and lodging their objections (sic).”
The letter, dated 5 July, also said that the order’s implementation would disturb the master plan of Panchkula City as some houses will be three-storey and some four-storey, ruining the character or symmetry of the city. The same would violate the privacy and security of residents as people in the houses with higher floors can peep into the residences with lower floors, Gupta added in the letter.
The letter also said that the increase in the density of residents would cause unbearable strain on the water supply, road, drainage, sewage, electricity, etc., and severely affect the circulation of fresh air and sunlight in houses, with harmful and adverse health effects on residents.
One of the conditions for building S+4 buildings is permission from neighbours. Gupta warned in his letter that in case a neighbour refuses to give the nod, there will be an unnecessary tussle between neighbours, which will break the thread of harmony in society and lead to complaints and litigations that will create a burden on the courts and government offices.
Listing the concerns raised by the RWAs, his letter said, “As per the complaints received from general public and various Residents’ Welfare Associations, after the construction of stilt plus 4 floors buildings under the scheme, the parking space is being used for commercial, trading and business activities such as Gyms, Hotel etc. and the parking problem is intact as it was (sic).”
Gupta ended the letter by requesting the government to take back its order or apply it in the new sectors only.
Commenting on the new order, General Malik said, “The government has gone with profiteering while taking this decision and has not considered citizen’s welfare. I attended a meeting of the RWAs in the Red Bishop tourist complex in Panchkula on Saturday. People are angry with the government’s decision.”
“At the meeting, people discussed how they continue to suffer due to the S+4 constructions builders had raised before the ban, causing immense structural damage to their houses. However, neither has the government given them any compensation nor are the builders ready to cover their losses. With the new policy mandating neighbour’s permission, it is bound to increase litigations and quarrels among people,” he said.
General V.P. Malik also said that going by the government’s attitude, he did not hope for a solution to the problem, but he and the RWAs were ready for a prolonged battle.
Meanwhile, a state-level meeting of the Haryana State Sectors Confederation concluded in Hisar on Saturday, with the confederation of residents giving the government time till July 31 to withdraw the S+4 policy.
Calling the government bid to implement the S+4 policy with minor amendments a direct attack on residents of sectors, the state coordinator of the confederation, Yashvir Malik, said, “The original design of the old sectors is such that the sewerage, electricity, water, parking, public parks, and other facilities developed under it cannot bear the load of S+4. Implementing S+4 will increase the population density by three to four times, and the lives of people, who, painstakingly, have managed to settle in these sectors, will become a nightmare as these facilities crumble.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Such a scenario does not augur well for the BJP more so when state assembly elections are just round the corner. Mind you, BJP is yet to reconcile with its losing out Five Lok Sabha seats to Congress in just concluded General elections.
One earnestly hopes that the Saini govt would soon roll back its decision to allow S+4 Construction across the state of Haryana in the wake of its inherent fall outs.