Mohali: Feeling deceived, owners seek answers

MOHALI: Why did the Indian Air Force not demarcate 100-metre land from the defence installation boundary wall in 1960? If it was illegal, then why MC allowed constructions in the airport’s vicinity? Why did the government charge fee to sanction building plans? Why did the MC charge property tax if structures were unauthorised?
These were some of the questions raised by the owners of structures in Zirakpur that fall within the 100-metre radius.
Owners of 83-odd structures, out of which 12 were demolished on Thursday, asked why 100-metre radius from the defence installation boundary wall was not left by the Indian Air Force when the land was acquired in 1960?
Home to the newly-raised Number 42 and 44 Squadrons, 12 Wing Air Force Station was established on March 1, 1961. Since then, it is one of the premier transport bases in the IAF. Over the years, the pride of the IAF’s heavy-lift fleet — An-12s, Il-76s, Mi-26s — were stationed at 12 Wing. The station was carved out of the land belonging to the residents of Pabhat village in Zirakpur after they were compensated.
Affected by the drive in Pabhat village, Jagjit Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Pardeep Bhardwaj, Bharat Bhushan and Harpreet Singh Preet, asked in unison if all these structures were illegal, then why their construction was allowed and why the government accepted requisite fee for sanctioning their building plans. “The Air Force did not cordon off the 100-metre area with a barbed wire in 1960. It means they did not see the threat, which after 60 years they are seeing,” they said.
The owners demanded that the government as well as the civic body be made party to their case and booked for fraudulently accepting fee and property tax for structures marked illegal.
Many owners came up with building plan orders approved in 2018. The structures were declared illegal two years ago. Questioning the working of the civic body, they said if the structures were illegal, then why did the government approve plans?
Led by Satnam Singh of NGO Punjab Against Corruption, architect Ranjit Singh and advocate Rajwinder Singh, chairman, Punjab Human Rights Organization, they alleged that the government was attempting to challenge its own scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by forcing residents to become homeless.