HUDA faces a piquant situation over encroachments

There are in all nearly 60 disputed plots in Part 1 of Sector 21. Although the plots were allotted nearly eight years ago, the HUDA has failed to hand over the possession of these plots to their respective allottees. The reason? There are encroachments galore on these plots. Big chunks of jhuggis have come up on most of the plots besides other unauthorised structures, including a temple. Things would have been less problematic to HUDA, had the encroachments been “usual.” But the root of the problem is that most of these jhuggis belong to the HUDA employees.

Senior officials at the HUDA admit that the jhuggis, which have sprouted at these plots, could have been developed and acquired only in connivance with employees other than the labourers. Regarding the removal of these encroachments, the Chief Administrator, Raghavendra Rao expresses helplessness. “Many of the jhuggi dwellers have got together, made representations in the High Court and got stay orders. Until the litigation is cleared, no action can be taken to remove the encroachment and hand over the possession to rightful owners,”he says.

The allottees meanwhile have decided to fight it out in the consumer and other courts. The Panchkula District Disputes and Redressal Forum has already decided nearly 20 such cases. “Going by the compensation granted to the allottees for suffering mental agony and escalation in the cost of construction, the amount HUDA will have to pay can run into lakhs,”admit senior officers of HUDA.

Most of the jhuggi dwellers were temporarily hired by the HUDA as labour for road construction and other such developmental works. However over a period of time they became regular employees, report HUDA sources.

There was a policy to allot one marla land to each of the jhuggi dwellers but the policy was scraped as the new dispensation took charge in the state, leaving the problem of these disputed plots unsolved.