Sohana village, which used to be a small village on the outskirts of Mohali city until 2008-2009, is now a bustling zone for gym lovers, tenants and shopkeepers. However, the collapse of a three-storey building on Saturday raised eyebrows at how in such a small period of time so many high-rise buildings had come up in the area. The village, which used to be a nagar panchayat, came under the jurisdiction of municipal corporation (MC) in December 2014. After it had come under the civic body jurisdiction, the construction of high-rise buildings continued to go unabated, putting the lives of tenants and people who run their businesses inside these buildings at risk. Parwinder Sohana, former sarpanch of the village and the first Municipal Councillor (MC) from the area from 2015 to 2020, told The Indian Express that he had raised the issue of strictly implementing the building bylaws, but was never heard. “This incident is part of the negligence on part of the officials of the MC as well. You can see how the PGs mushroomed, many hotels and hundreds of showrooms opened. There are hundreds of high-rise buildings located in the area. The MC officials should tell if they check whether the owners followed the bylaws,” Parwinder added. Hundreds of tenants prefer PGs in Sohana as it is cheaper than Mohali city which is known for its exorbitant rentals. Hundreds of PGs are located in the village and most of these are being run without the permission of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). Most of the tenants are from neighbouring states like Himachal Pradesh (HP), Jammu, Haryana who work either in Mohali or Chandigarh. MC Commissioner T Benith said that owners have to take permission from the MC before constructing any building in the area. He said the owner of the building, which got collapsed, was digging a basement in an adjoining plot without getting any permission.
