In Nayagaon, all constructions are unauthorised

[sidmis]

In Nayagaon, all constructions are unauthorised
as reported by Nitin Jain, Oct 09, 2008 | IndianExpress

Mohali, October 8 2 years on, Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat still
'powerless' to check encroachment
No construction existing in the Nayagaon municipal limits in the
periphery of Chandigarh is authorised. Illegal constructions raised
without getting building plans approved by competent authority have
eaten up almost 80 per cent area of Karoran, 60 per cent of Kansal and
20 per cent of Nada villages, which constitute the Nayagaon Nagar
Panchayat.

The facts came to light after Newsline filed an application under the
Right to Information Act, 2005, seeking information from the civic
body with regard to constructions in Nayagaon.

The civic body has not yet identified any encroachment in Nayagaon.
Neither has it initiated any action against those responsible for
raising the unauthorised structures. Reason: even two years after
coming into being, the civic body does not have the power to
regularise buildings, approving building plans and issuing
no-objection certificates required for procuring power and water
supply connections.

It may be mentioned that top politicians and bureaucrats own vast
chunks of prime land and structures in the area.

In September, the Mohali Deputy Commissioner banned all new
constructions in Nada and Karoran, besides refusing power, water
supply connections and ration cards.

In his reply to the RTI application, the Public Information Officer of
the Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat said with no major source of income, the
civic body had to raise a loan of Rs 20 lakh from the 'cash-rich'
Mandi Gobindgarh Municipal Council to meet its expenditure. The meagre
development work taken place so far had been undertaken with the help
of Government grants.

In these two years, the Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat has received 27
building plans from Kansal area, but no plan could either be approved
or rejected due to the restriction. The fee of Rs 29.73 lakh received
with the building plans, however, was kept pending, which constituted
a major income of the civic body since its establishment in October
2006.

Apart from that, the municipality earned Rs 52,000 from octroi on
electricity, Rs 6,000 as rent and Rs 2.81 lakh from other sources to
take its total revenue to Rs 53.12 lakh, the PIO said in his reply.

The total expenditure of Rs 46.01 lakh included Rs 22.25 lakh on
salaries, Rs 3.53 lakh on stationery, office furniture and fixtures,
Rs 16,000 on telephone and fax, Rs 1.28 lakh on miscellaneous, Rs 9.93
lakh on solid waste management, Rs 8.5 lakh on construction of streets
and drains, besides Rs. 1.05 lakh on streetlights.

The Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat received a grant of Rs 50,000 under the
MP Land Area Development Fund in August 2007 for construction of a
drain for waste disposal in Karoran. It could not be utilised due to
restrictions imposed by the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA).

Besides, the civic body got Rs 12.25 lakh grant for solid waste
management and database computerisation in August and December 2007,
of which Rs 3 lakh is yet to be spent. Another grant of Rs 6.19 lakh
was received in June this year, of which Rs 1.37 lakh was spent on
purchase of a water tanker, a carrier container system while Rs 4.75
lakh is lying unused....

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/In-Nayagaon--all-constructions-are-unauthorised/371201