Public path encroached at Barol, authorities sleep

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 12

The authorities in Kangra district are complacent about encroachment that encouraging encroachers to occupy public paths, causing inconvenience to public.

Residents in the lower Barol area have been running from pillar to post for the past six months to stop encroachments by a builder on the path leading to their houses. Despite their complaints to the district authority, no action has been taken.

TR Shastri, a resident of the lower Barol colony, said as per revenue papers, a 10-foot passage goes to their colony. About three months ago, a person started doing construction and grabbed some passage. They requested him to leave the space but he ignored their requests.

The residents then approached the Town and Country Planning office on April 29, 2016. Officials issued notice to the person. The officials informed them that the person had submitted an affidavit at the time of getting his building plan approved that besides the 2.5 metre government passage, he would leave another .5 metre for the passage, he said.

Varinder Kaistha, another resident of the colony, said they had met the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Dharamsala. However, the authorities failed to take action despite written complaint by them.

VP Verma, another resident, said they then approached the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, and the Dharamsala SDM. A delegation of the residents of the colony met the local MLA and Minister for Urban Development Sudhir Sharma who assured them.

When nothing happened, they filed a police complaint in the matter on July 10, he said.

Yoginder Saini said due to pressure exerted by them, the Town and Country Planning Department had written to the Power and IPH Department against issuing water and power connections to the illegal building.

However, the encroacher had raised the building and the passage had been encroached upon. The passage now had been reduced to just about 6 feet wide. The residents and senior citizens are now finding it difficult to ply even their car on the narrow passage, he said.

The residents said that efforts were being made to make Dharamsala a Smart City. However, if the authorities remained so complacent about encroachment, the city would remain smart on the paper, they alleged.