Big breather for those with houses, plots in illegal colonies: No NOC for registering plots

The amendment was a long pending demand and the issue was raised in front of Mann during this year’s Lok Sabha elections. The condition of NOC was imposed as per the PAPRA Act, 1995. Every house owner had to seek NOC from the concerned authority, including departments that provide basic amenities. These included one from power department for installing meter, from civic body for getting sewerage and water facilities and so on. Punjab currently has more than 14,000 such colonies.

Mann said this amendment aims to ensure stringent control over the illegal colonies, besides giving relief to small plot holders. It will give a major relief to crores of people who mistakenly invested their hard earned money in the illegal colonies, said Mann, adding that these innocent people put their money into building their homes but landed in trouble.

According to the Bill, if any person or promoter or his agent registered under this Act fails to comply with the relevant provision of the law, he/she shall be punished with imprisonment for a minimum term of five years which may extend to 10 years and with minimum fine of Rs 25 lakh, which may extend to Rs 5 crore.

The CM said the bill will ensure that the land is optimally utilized only for the purpose for which investors sought necessary permissions. Illegal colonies had mushroomed up during the long “misrule” of the previous governments as the earlier rulers had patronized the illegal colonizers, he alleged. During the debate on the Bill, a heated discussion took place when Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal raised the issue of illegal colonies in Amritsar stating that these were raised by Akali and Congress leaders. To this, Leader of Opposition Partap Bajwa objected leading to commotion in the house.

Bajwa supported the bill but claimed that illegal colonies are still coming up in the state. He sought that money should be recovered from colonizers who had set up illegal colonies. There is a need to stop urban slums, he said.

AAP’s Kulwant Singh said that 95 per cent colonies were unauthorised in the state while neighbouring states like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh did not have a single unauthorised colony. He said successive governments patronised it. These are now urban slums.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the amendment to is a significant step towards improving the economy of Punjab and providing relief to the common people. Cheema said the PAPRA Act aimed to prevent unauthorised colonies, but the Congress and SAD-BJP-led previous governments’ “failures” led to widespread illegal colonies without basic amenities like water supply, sewage, and proper roads.