Glada razes 4 illegal colonies around city

Ludhiana: For curbing the mushrooming of illegal colonies, officials of Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (Glada) conducted a demolition drive in its jurisdiction, and razed four illegal colonies on Tuesday in Mullanpur, Jhammat, and Ladiyan Kalan. The department also got FIRs registered against developers of these colonies for developing them without permission. Officials claimed that more such drives would be carried out against unauthorized colonies in the coming days. In the past one week, demolition drives were carried out in more than 15 illegal colonies.
Glada chief administrator PS Gill said: “If any new illegal colony is developed under Glada jurisdiction, it will be demolished, and an FIR lodged against the erring developer. We have also asked the departments concerned not to provide any power supply and telephone connection to these illegal colonies, in addition to the government’s ban on registering deeds in such colonies.” Glada additional chief administrator Ajay Sood appealed to residents not to buy plots in such colonies. He said people should visit the Glada office or its website to get information about illegal colonies.

Recently, Glada also conducted a survey to check the exact number of illegal colonies in the city, and the department found out that 1,931 colonies were illegal, as against 1,800 a year ago. Out of these, 1,432 colonies are in Ludhiana, while earlier, there were around 1,200 such colonies. Officials have been told to keep a check on the mushrooming of illegal colonies after this survey, and in case any illegal colony is developed, action would be taken against the developer and the officer concerned.