Chandigarh, June 21, 2018: A meeting of Punjab ministers and MLAs was held here today at Punjab Civil Secretariat to discuss the draft of the new policy. The meeting was chaired by Tript Bajwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Punjab.
Bajwa briefed the members about the process adopted for drafting the new policy. He apprised the meeting about separate meetings he had held with the colonizers of both legal and illegal colonies and the residents there.
He further briefed that the new draft placed for discussion in this meeting has been prepared by an officers committee which has tried to incorporate all the valid suggestions submitted by the colonizers and the common people in the earlier meetings.
Additional Chief Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Vini Mahajan formally placed the draft of the new policy which was further elaborated by Harpreet Sudan, Chief Administrator, Patiala Development Authority. He explained that the policy had been drafted keeping in mind the interests of the residents/plot holders. The policy shall be applicable to the entire state, he said.
The ministers and MLAs present in the meeting placed their views on various points mentioned in the draft of the policy. They emphasized that the department must consider the welfare of the residents living in the illegal colonies as well as of those who have bought plots there. They appreciated the draft of the policy prepared by the officials of the department of Housing & Urban Development.
Bajwa assured all the public representatives present in the meeting that the new policy would be finalized keeping in view the interests of general public and all the stake holders including colonizers, plot holders and government. He asked the ministers and MLAs to further send their suggestions in writing to the department, so that those could also be incorporated in the draft of the policy. 'Next meeting to finalize the policy would be held next week,' said Tript Bajwa.
Among those present in the meeting were Navjot Singh Sidhu, Local Government Minister, Manpreet Badal, Finance Minister, Balbir Singh Sidhu Animal Husbandry Minister, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria Revenue Minister, Sundar Sham Arora Industries Minister, Bharat Bhushan Ashu Food & Civil Supplies Minister, Vijay Inder Singla, PWD Minister, Pargat Singh MLA, Sushil Rinku MLA, Sanjav Talwar MLA, Vini Mahajan, Ravi Bhagat, Chief Administrator, PUDA/GMADA, TPS Phoolka,Director, Town and Country Planning, Gurpreet Singh, Chief Town Planner, Punjab and other senior officers.