Illegal constructions a blot on McLeodganj heritage building

DHARAMSALA: The office of the Union Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, at McLeodganj, which houses the office of Liaison Officer to the Dalai Lama, is now bearing the brunt of the Himachal government decision to allow 100 per cent regularization of the illegal structures in the state.

A passage blocked by a builder in McLeodganj. Photo: Kamaljeet

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 2

The office of the Union Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, at McLeodganj, which houses the office of Liaison Officer to the Dalai Lama, is now bearing the brunt of the Himachal government decision to allow 100 per cent regularization of the illegal structures in the state. The office of the Liaison Officer was established in 1959 when the Tibetan leader fled into exile in India.

The office is located in a heritage building on 1, Mortimer Hall at McLeodganj. The building also falls in the core zone of McLeodganj where no construction has been allowed.

However, since the Himachal government has passed a bill proposing regularization of all the unauthorized structures in the state, many illegal buildings have come up around the office of Union Ministry for External Affairs.

The multi-storey illegal buildings around the heritage building of the ministry have come up in such a way that its lush green lawn now resembles a ditch. The valley view of the heritage building has been covered by illegal hotels that have come up around it and the office looks like a fortress. The officials working in the department said that their privacy has also been encroached upon by the illegal buildings.

The Director at the office and Liaison Officer of the Dalai Lama, Guru Sharan Singh said they had written to municipal corporation authorities, divisional commissioner, Kangra and the Town and Country Planning office regarding the illegal constructions coming up around their office. It was a heritage property and permissions from the Union Ministry for Culture were also required before raising constructions around it.

“Since no action was being taken by the local authorities regarding the illegal constructions coming around the office, we shall be writing for the intervention of the Union Ministry of External Affairs in the matter”, Guru Sharan Singh said.

Sources here said that the area around the union ministry office was the core area according to the laws of the TCP Department. As per the TCP bylaws the core area of McLeodganj had to be kept intact and no new constructions should be allowed there. While the illegal buildings have already covered the front portion of the building, illegal buildings have started coming up on the backside.

Commissioner of the Dharamsala Municipal Corporation JM Pathania was not available for comments despite repeated attempts to contact him on phone. The other officials of the corporation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that since the state government announced the scheme to regularize 100 per cent deviations in the original maps people have gone ahead with illegal constructions with the hope that all of it would be regularized. The authorities are also in fix over what to do regarding the illegal structures. The office of the Ministry for External Affairs is among the very few heritage buildings left in McLeodganj that has been exploited to the hilt by commercialization by hotel owners due to the complacent attitude of the authorities.