Jalandhar, June 14, 2018: In a major crackdown against officers responsible for mushrooming up of illegal buildings in the city, the Local Government Minister Punjab Navjot Singh Sidhu today suspended eight officers of buildings branch including a Senior Town Planner (STP) and two Municipal Town Planners (MTPs) of Municipal Corporation Jalandhar.
The Minister along with MLA Pargat Singh and officers of the Local Government department and the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar today inspected the under construction and already constructed illegal buildings in the city.
Acting strictly against gross violation of building by-laws in the city, the Minister then ordered the suspension of these eight officers and issuance of charge sheet against 10 officers of the civic body.
Interacting with the media persons, he said that Senior Town Planner Parampal Singh, Municipal Town Planners . Monika Anand and Meharban Singh, Assistant Town Planners Naresh Mehta and Balwinder Building Inspectors Neeraj Sharma, Pooja Mann and Ajit Sharma have been suspended from service. Likewise, Sidhu said that charge sheet would be issued to 10 officers of the civic body including Senior Town Planner Parampal Singh, Municipal Town PlannersMonika Anand and Meharban Singh, Assistant Town Planners Naresh Mehta and Balwinder Building Inspectors Neeraj Sharma, Pooja Mann, Rajinder Sharma, Arun Khanna and Ajit Sharma.
The Minister said that the department would get a FIR lodged against these erring officers under section 120 B of the IPC and 298 of Municipal act. Mr. Sidhu further said that charge sheet was being issued under Rule 8 of the Municipal Act, which may further lead to dismissal of these officers from the service. He said that even the assets of these officers would be probed and if any sort of discrepancies were found then they would be attached.
The Minister categorically said that he would also take up this matter with the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. He said that no compromise could be made with fire and structure safety of buildings which poses huge risk to human life. He said that due to the connivance of these officers a large number of illegal buildings have come up in the city thereby incurring a huge loss to the state exchequer.
The Minister said that it was unfortunate that instead of serving the people these officers were serving the colonizers by facilitating them to cut illegal colonies. He said that the state government was focusing on development of all but such officers were bent on ruing the Punjab, which would not be allowed at any cost. Rolling out the plan to check the illegal buildings in future, Sidhu said that the entire city has been divided in zones and officers have allotted sectors to ensure that no illegal building mushrooms up in the city. He said that nobody was above the law and stern action would be taken against anyone who violates the law. Sidhu said that within three months 500 new officers would be recruited in department to further check the construction of illegal buildings and colonies.
Prominent among others present on the occasion included MLA Pargat Singh, Deputy Mayor Harsimranjit Singh Bunty, Director Local Government Karnesh Sharma, Commissioner Municipal Corporation Dr. Basant Garg, Additional Commissioner Municipal Corporation Mr. Vishesh Sarangal and others.