The Times of India               09.10.2013

44 illegal colonies to get amenities

GURGAON: In a move that will provide relief to lakhs of residents living in unauthorized colonies in the city, the Haryana government has passed the Haryana Management of Civic Amenities and Infrastructure Deficient Municipal Areas (special provisions) Act 2013. This will enable the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) to provide basic amenities like water, electricity, roads, streetlights and sewage disposal to the residents living in these areas. The urban local bodies department has already issued a notification in this regard. All these years the MCG was unable to provide these essential services since it was not allowed to do so.

However, these illegal colonies have still not been authorized. As many as 543 illegal colonies have been shortlisted across Haryana for this scheme, out of which 44 of are in Gurgaon.

"According to the Act, there are a total of 543 colonies which will be provided civic amenities. There are several criteria that the colonies need to fulfil and the main condition is that as on June 30, 2009, the minimum built-up area of the colony should be 50% and the colony should not be a part of any restricted area," P Raghavendra Rao, principal secretary, urban local bodies, told TOI.

This means that about two lakh people, living in 22 colonies within the 900-metre restricted zone around IAF depot, will not get the benefit of this scheme. Residents of such colonies have time and again held protests demanding civic amenities.

"We will bring out a separate notification in which plot holders within the declared area can get their plots regularized by depositing a certain amount if they fulfil certain conditions," said Rao.

The total area comprising the 44 colonies in Gurgaon is around 1,217 acres. The MCG officials said they are studying the notification and development work will begin soon. "All this while our hands were tied and even though we wanted to provide basic amenities to these people, we could not do so. Now, we will start various development works soon," said an official.