UT blames Punjab for periphery mess

The PIL arose out of a suo motu notice taken by the high court on a news item published by Chandigarh Newsline. The news item had highlighted how the proposed project will cause a threat to the city’s heritage. A related petition was subsequently filed by advocate Aalok Jagga,through his counsel D S Patwalia challenging the Camelot project.

UT Administration’s reply reads: “In 1998,the Punjab government regularised all unauthorised construction which had come up in the periphery and was violative of the mandate of the Periphery Control Act. In 2006,Punjab framed its independent policy called the ‘Punjab Periphery Policy,2006’ to extensively urbanise the area around Chandigarh. The decision was in contravention to the earlier jointly prepared interstate regional plans and the Chandigarh Urban Complex plan which had focused on dispersing the pressure away from Chandigarh. The policy was framed without consulting the coordination committee and the Chandigarh Administration”.

The Administration has slammed Punjab government for not considering Chandigarh while preparing regional plans.

“Despite its own decision taken in 2006,the Punjab government has not prepared the comprehensive Periphery Controlled Area Plan. While the state government has prepared the GMADA Regional Plan,2008,it does not include the Nagar Panchayat Nayagaon township and thus cannot be said to be a holistic,comprehensive plan for the entire periphery”,the Administration has submitted.

It also added that the development plan for Nayagaon did not consider ‘environmental and ecological ground realities besides important urban design considerations’ of Chandigarh. UT also voiced its concerns about the development of Nayagaon posing hazards to its environment.

Further,the reply,filed in the High Court today,reads that “though there is awareness of the need to preserve planning concepts of Chandigarh to contain growth for maintaining the environment,however on the contrary large scale urbanisation targeted with a population of one lakh by 2021 and with high rise developments have been proposed in the development plan of Nagar Panchayat,Nayagaon which will not only spell disaster for the city of Chandigarh,but will also endanger human life due to the eco fragile nature of the land”.