MCG House raps ‘insensitive’town planner over demolitions

Gurgaon: MCG House on Monday passed a resolution condemning district town planner (enforcement) Amit Madholia after councillors accused the enforcement wing of acting insensitively during anti-encroachment drives and failing to coordinate with elected representatives.

The issue came up during the sixth general House meeting of MCG, held at Haryana Institute of Public Administration in Sector 18.

Ward 2 councillor Jyotsna Yadav alleged a water cooler installed for public use in DLF-2 was demolished during an anti-encroachment drive without any time being given for its relocation.

“Providing drinking water to people cannot be treated as an illegal act. A water cooler meant for the public is always installed along roadsides so that passersby can drink water, especially during summers. It was located near a tree and an electric pole, and there was no obstruction to traffic movement,” said Yadav.

After the discussion, the House passed a condemnation resolution against DTP (enforcement).

Yadav said the proposal received unanimous support. “All 36 councillors supported the proposal that at least five public water coolers should be installed in every ward by MCG and their maintenance responsibility should also be fixed. The House passed the condemnation proposal because the action taken by the enforcement team was insensitive,” she added.

Department of town and country planning (DTCP) carried out demolition drives in several licensed colonies, including DLF-2, in April following Punjab and Haryana high court’s directions against illegal constructions.

The meeting also discussed civic infrastructure, sanitation, sewerage, drinking water supply, road construction and encroachment removal across the city. Councillors raised concerns on sewer upgrades, waterlogging, streetlights, road repairs, parks, ponds and community infrastructure in their wards.

Mayor Raj Rani Malhotra said, “Action will be taken on all issues raised during the meeting to improve civic infrastructure and public services in the city.”

The House approved proposals to sell revenue road land embedded within private residential and commercial projects in sectors 111, 113, 104 and 114. Officials said these old access roads had become defunct, landlocked or unusable for public purposes.

It also approved a proposal to provide incentives to authorised plumbers for facilitating legal water connections and helping the civic body identify illegal connections.

Under the proposal, plumbers empanelled with MCG will receive an incentive equal to 50% of the connection or disconnection fee collected from consumers during the online application process, subject to a maximum of Rs 1,000 per case.

Officials told the House that MCG collects water connection charges and security deposits from applicants under HSVP policy. Since connection fees for some categories, especially commercial connections in HSVP sectors, are higher, a cap of Rs 1,000 has been proposed on the incentive payable to plumbers.

The civic body has also proposed an additional incentive of Rs 1,000 for authorised plumbers who report illegal or unauthorised water connections, provided the violations are verified by MCG officials.

The House also gave consent to land allotment for RRTS project, Vita milk booths and auction of commercial sites at Vyapar Sadan.

The House also approved a proposal for development of an indoor stadium on nearly 3,000 square yards of HSVP land between Sheeshpal Vihar and South City. It also cleared construction of a community centre in Dhumsapur village by MCG.

During the meeting, municipal commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said complaints would be sent to the additional chief secretaries of departments whose officials failed to attend the House proceedings.