The Times of India        01.12.2010

Demolition drive in Sec-45 HIG flats

CHANDIGARH: The enforcement wing of Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) carried out demolitions of unauthorized portions of high income group (HIG) flats in Sector 45-A amidst allegations that the allottees were not given adequate opportunity to regularize the 'need-based changes' by paying compounding fee. The garages and boundary walls of over 30 houses were razed in the drive carried out under high police presence.

Rajinder Singh, an affected resident, said CHB had issued a notification inviting applications for regularization of changes in the original layout but it was not properly publicized. Also, a clause was added that the applicant should first get a copy of the layout plan from the architecture department, he said.

''However, the architecture department stopped accepting applications in September and the allottees did not get a fair opportunity to apply. CHB's objection that the garage should be four-feet smaller is impractical as it does not leave enough space for parking even a small car,'' added another resident of the area.

The protesting residents alleged that boundary walls of their houses had been demolished, leaving their bedrooms exposed, which posed a serious security threat. ''For the past 19 years, the authorities did not wake up to the issue and now they have gone ahead with demolition straightway,'' said Singh.

After the finance department did not reply to the proposal sent by the board for extension of the deadline for accepting compounding fee, CHB had decided to stop accepting applications for allowing need-based changes in the houses allotted by it. The board decided to send back the applications received after the last date along with the fee deposited by the applicants.