60 GMADA houses encroached,45 under threat

Trespassers allegedly broke open the locks of vacant houses in Phase I,IX,X,Sector 66 and 70. The government property worth crores has been encroached upon since November 2009 but so far,no action has been initiated to evict the illegal occupants.

While the GMADA accused the district civil and police administration of “inaction”,the latter blamed the Authority’s field staff of being “hand in glove to facilitate encroachment”.

The houses were lying vacant since long and GMADA was yet to decide on their sale or allotment,but in November,six MIG houses,three each in Sector 66 and 70,were illegally occupied after trespassers broke open their locks.

In the absence of any action,more such houses lying vacant continued to fall prey to illegal occupants and till December,around 60 houses were encroached.

On getting the report from the field staff,GMADA Estate Officer (Housing) Subhash Rana wrote to Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar on November 13 and December 12 seeking police protection to get FIRs registered against the encroachers,whose names with respective house numbers were also provided.

On finding that no action was taken on repeated complaints,GMADA Chief Administrator (CA) Vivek Partap Singh wrote to Mohali Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh Mand on December 17 that due to delay in providing police protection,GMADA’s valuable property remained under illegal occupation.

Admitting on record that 60 houses were so far encroached and 45 more were facing threat,the GMADA CA requested the DC to immediately provide police protection and appoint a duty magistrate to evict the illegal occupants. Apprehending untoward incidents during eviction exercise,he sought the DC’s personal intervention,in what,he said,could turn out to be a law and order problem. A copy of the note was also forwarded to the SSP with a request to immediately provide police protection.

In the absence of any action,GMADA EO (Housing) sent reminders to the DC and SSP on December 21,28 and 29 but to no avail. On January 19,the SSP responded to the GMADA EO (Housing) and intimated that according to an inquiry conducted by the DSP (City-I),several houses in question were found locked and riot victims were reported to be occupying them.

When contacted,SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said GMADA officials never intimated them about the day and time when they required police force. “After failing to protect their property,GMADA officials are now trying to put the blame on us whereas their own field staffers were involved in facilitating encroachment,” he said.

Similarly,DC Prabhjot Singh Mand also denied any delay in appointing a duty magistrate.

“We immediately appointed a duty magistrate on getting the request and GMADA’s tehsildar is assigned the task in most cases,” he claimed.