text: Accusing the MC officers of hobnobbing with encroachers, Rohit Sabharwal said in spite of a complaint and three reminders regarding encroachments within the past four months, MC officials had not bothered to take any action.
  He said MC apathy could be gauged from the fact that the corporation had no record of illegal encroachments in the area.
  “A senior officer of the corporation is delaying action in the area,” he further alleged. MC Additional Commissioner Kuldeep Singh, who is also the in-charge of the building branch, refuted the allegations of pressure from any officer. He said the corporation was all set to start a drive from Monday.
  Strange are the ways of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), which has been acting in a selective manner to remove encroachments on green belts in the Housing Board Colony on the Ferozepur Road here.
  While two structures (extensions of houses in green belt) were demolished way back in 2004, over 50 other violators in the same colony are still to be proceeded against.
  Whether it was sheer coincidence or deliberate act that part of the structures (claimed to be kitchen garden and flower beds) demolished by GLADA six years ago belonged to families of ex-servicemen, needs an answer from the regulatory and enforcement staff of GLADA.
  Charging the GLADA authorities with adopting a partisan and discriminatory attitude in clearance of encroachments even after explicit directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Paramjit Walia, widow of ex-subedar Yash Pal Walia, and Paramjit Kaur, daughter-in-law of ex-subedar Sohan Singh, have alleged that other residents, who had also encroached upon the green belt in the colony, had evaded action because of their clout.
  Information provided by the Estate Officer of GLADA under the Right to Information Act to the affected residents on August 18, 2010 clearly says that residents of house Nos. HJ 297 to HJ 306 as well as HJ 1 to HJ 32 have been in illegal possession of parts of green belt for the past over 20 years.