The Times of India 11.05.2013
Bylaws flouted, MC seals Park Plaza basement
LUDHIANA: Continuing its drive against major establishments which have violated building bylaws, the Ludhiana municipal corporation sealed the underground banquet hall of Park Plaza and other two buildings on Friday.
According to officials, 8 buildings on Ferozepur road violated buildings plans, which were sanctioned by the authorities. These establishments were served notice on May 6. The five-member committee of the MC came into action on May 9 and sealed two buildings. On May 10, besides the banquet hall of Park Plaza, Gujari-a Gujarati handloom shop, and basement of KP Complex was sealed.
Joint commissioner Ajay Sood said all these buildings ignored the MC notice and continued to use the parking space allotted on map for their commercial purpose.
After the sealing drive and survey of all other buildings on Thursday, the committee submitted a report to MC commissioner Rakesh Verma, who further ordered the officials to strictly go by the sanctioned maps of the buildings.
According to officials from the building branch, Park Plaza used the entire parking space for commercial purpose and constructed an underground banquet hall.
Two other buildings, which were sealed today, also utilized all the underground space to construct offices. KP Complex had constructed 5 offices violating the norms.
Gujari, a Gujarati handloom house, was sealed as it used the parking area to build hall on first floor. They had to leave 25 ft at the end of the building for parking.
The MCa??s attention was drawn to these violations as most of the hotels and other commercial buildings were using slip roads for parking, which created traffic problem for commuters. After being served notices, only 3 out of 8 could satisfy norms of building bylaws.
Now, the report will be forwarded to the MC commissioner to take further decision. If the owners wish, they can move the high court to get the seal removed, said Rajinder Sharma, assistant town planner, Zone D.
