Govt starts process to legalise operation of hotels around Golden Temple

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 25

After notifying the regularisation of illegal hospitality units around the Golden Temple, the state government has started the exercise to legalize their operation.

Ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, it was a windfall bonanza offered by the Punjab government for proprietors of objectionable hotels, guest houses and inns located in or around the Golden Temple Galliara, rest of the walled city area, including Hall Gate, Ram Bagh, Mahan Singh Gate, Sheranwala Gate, Ghee Mandi Gate, Sultanwind Gate, Chattiwind Gate and Hathi Gate.

These units never fulfilled the Municipal Building By-laws 1997 or the revised building by-laws 2010 due to violations of floor area ratio (FAR), height beyond permissible limits, narrow stairs and no parking facility.

However, questions are being raised about the fate of the three Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) inns, including the one which is on the last leg of its completion, near Saragarhi parking. These multi-storey inns have been disturbing the skyline. Whether the government will ask the SGPC to demolish any storey, which is beyond the permissible limit or extend some exceptional exemption to put them under the ambit of legal operation is yet to be seen.

The government through Municipal Town Planning Department, Amritsar, has invited applications from affected hoteliers till May 28 at Guru Nanak Bhawan, City Centre, filed through Form-A with details and dimension of their properties. After that, a panel including Local Bodies’ ministry officials, MC Commissioner Sonali Giri and senior town planner (STP) Shakti Sagar Bhatia, will scrutinise units, which can be considered under the one-time settlement policy.

The Golden Temple is visited by nearly one lakh pilgrims every day, who come from all over the globe. Many hotels, inns and guest houses accommodate them on reasonable rate, but their location in the old topography of 400-year-old city poses a hindrance in compilation of the modern day building norms.

The Punjab Legislative Assembly passed the Walled City (Recognition of Usage) Act 2016 in March and notified it. It will ensure immunity from any action to over 165 such hospitality units located within the walled city area, subject to the condition that they comply certain laid down norms while keeping the safety and environment friendly parameters as prime conditions.

In addition to this, the Act may bring respite to the 33 officials of the Municipal Town Planning Department, who too were held guilty of overlooking illegal construction during their tenure here.

Meanwhile, the operation of these units was challenged by Sarbjit Singh Verka of Punjab Human Rights Organisation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2010. The case is still pending in the court.

STP Shakti Sagar Bhatia clarified that this never implied that any encroachment was going to be regularised. Applications would be scrutinised and shortlisted applicants would have to submit details of their property within sixty days, he added.

He said, “Similarly, the height of building disturbing the skyline can never be regularised. Though SGPC inns have 12 to 13 storeys, which do not comply with norms, we will have to decide about it later on. Other applicants will have to furnish their properties plot area, number of floors, arrangements for fire safety norms, adequate provision for light, ventilation, stair cases that leads to upper floors and other civic facilities.”