‘Sample’ to woo investors among 4 farmhouses razed

Gurgaon: Four double-storey farmhouses, spread over 10 acres of prime land in Gairatpur Bas village on the foothills of the Aravalis, were razed by the department of town and country planning (DTCP) on Monday. The action came after several complaints were received about illegal construction.
The DTCP’s enforcement team, led by district town planner RS Batth, also demolished the boundary walls as well as the road and power supply network, which had been laid after axing several trees.
Batth told TOI that the offenders were planning to extend the farmhouse colony further to an adjacent 15-acre land. “The new excavation work for laying down of the road network was evident at the site. Many trees had also been uprooted,” he said.
He added that the builders had constructed an upscale sample farmhouse with all amenities to attract investors. As per the DTCP’s investigation, it was found that the cost of one-acre farmhouses in the area was about Rs 4-5 crore. The area of each of the four farmhouses razed was between 1.5 and 2 acres. While the sample and three other farmhouses and labour quarters were razed, a family was living in another farmhouse and had been asked to vacate, he added.
Batth said the department is in the process of identifying the builders of the farmhouses, after which an FIR will be registered and action will be taken as per the provisions. Gurgaon district, he added, falls under controlled area, in which it is mandatory to take permission from the competent authority before development of a colony. In this case, no prior approval had been taken.
DTCP director KM Pandurang and deputy commissioner Yash Garg have also directed that at least two to three drives must be conducted against illegal farmhouses every month.
In August last year, DTCP and MCG had issued notices to the developers of 50 illegal farmhouses in Bandhwari area in the Aravalis. About 19 farmhouses were demolished after the SC took cognisance of a TOI report about a hillock that was flattened to build an access road.
On June 24, TOI had reported that DTCP had demolished more than 100 farmhouses in the past year and cleared nearly 200 acres of agricultural land. Most of these farmhouses were in Sohna, Bandhwari, Raisina Hills, Budhera, Wazirpur and Farrukhnagar.