Under construction buildings being scrutinized for violation of norms
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 1: Following the directions of the Division Bench of State High Court, Reasi district administration is going to seal over 90 commercial and residential structures in the holy town of Katra, which have come up during the past two years in blatant violation of Master Plan, Municipal Laws and Agrarian Reforms Act. Moreover, the administration will also identify the structures coming up in violation of these laws in the town and demolish them.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that most of the commercial structures, which come under the purview of the landmark judgment of the High Court, are owned by high profile businessmen. “These businessmen by making use of the political patronage and in collusion with the authorities of the Municipal Committee Katra, Katra Development Authority and Revenue Department officers obtained the permissions to raise the buildings in blatant violation of the laws”, sources added.
“The concerned authorities of the Municipal Committee, Development Authority and the Revenue Department, while extending undue favours to these businessmen, never thought that their illegal activity is ultimately leading to defacement of the holy town”, sources regretted. “The directions of the High Court assume much importance especially when the Katra town is virtually becoming jungle of concrete at the cost of its environment and serenity”, they added.
What to talk of Master Plan and Municipal Laws violations, several commercial structures even came up on the agriculture land in blatant violation of Agrarian Reforms Act thereby indicating that for monetary and other considerations the concerned authorities were encouraging the high-profile businessmen for raising illegal structures, sources said.
According to the sources, the district administration will divide Katra town in different zones and each zone headed by Executive Magistrate will ensure implementation of directions of the High Court vis-à-vis sealing of illegal commercial and residential structures, whose number has been worked out at 91 by the concerned agencies. “This is being done in order to ensure 100% compliance of the High Court directions within stipulated period of one month”, sources added.
They further informed that the owners of all these 91 structures will be served notice within next one or two day with the directions to voluntarily vacate the structures within next five days following which the administration would make use of police force to implement the directions of High Court. It is pertinent to mention here that High Court has already issued directions to the Director General of Police to make available all the assistance for implementing the directions.
Among the 91 commercial and residential structures, which will be sealed by the administration, 28 have come up in violation of Master Plan of Katra Development Authority, 27 in contravention of Municipal Laws and 36 in violation of Agrarian Reforms Act.
The owners of structures, which have come up in violation of Master Plan, include Jitender Bakshi, Karan (owner of hotel), Vijay Kumar (residential complex), Vinod Singh Wazir (owner of guest house), Bodh Raj (owner of shopping complex), Vijay Lakshmi (owner of commercial complex) and Rakesh Chander (owner of shops).
Those who have raised structures in violation of Agrarian Reforms Act are Naseem Akhter, Avatar Krishan, Sanjeev Kumar, Kanta Devi, Surinder Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Sham Lal, Baldev, Hans Raj, Karim Bakhsh, Baldev, Tara Chand, Bodh Raj, Om Prakash, Kamal Kishore, Naresh Kumar, Kuldeep Kumar, Ram Singh, Ankush Gupta, Puneet Kumar, Ashwani Kumar, Sushma Kumari, Abdul Karim Wani, Raj Paul Singh, Sunil Jain, Kuldeep Kumar Kohli, Chander Jain, Vinod Kumar Jain and Bodh Raj.
The violators of Municipal Laws are Tourism Department, Prem Nath (owner of guest house and shops), Sat Pal (owner of Guest House), Kaku Ram (owner of residential building), Vikas Sharma (owner of residential building), P P Sharma (owner of shops), Lucky (owner of residential building), Anil Sharma (owner of shops), Madan Padha (owner of Guest House), Subash Bhushan (owner of shop), Tilak Raj (owner of Guest House), Pankaj Sharma (owner of Guest House), Som Raj (owner of residential building), Shrine Board buildings near Viveka Nand Stadium and Niharika Complex, Deepak Kumar (owner of commercial and residential building), Ashok Vaid (owner of commercial and residential building), Vimal Kumar Dubey (owner of commercial and residential building), Narinder Singh (owner of commercial building), Rano Devi (owner of residential building), Rattan Singh and Rohit Kumar (owners of commercial buildings), Sham Sunder Kesar (owner of Guest House and Shops), Om Parkash (owner of commercial building), Sunita Devi and Roshan Lal (owners of commercial buildings) and Mela Ram (owner of residential building).
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