No end to illegal colonies mushrooming in Gurugram

Gurugram: Numerous illegal colonies and structures are coming up in and around Gurugram, causing major problems to citizens. Sources claim that around 50 illegal colonies are coming up in and around the district, with land mafia creating such colonies in Sohna, Farrukhnagar and Pataudi areas.

As the rates of these plots are much lower than the prevailing market rates in Gurugram, these plots attract several buyers. The normal rate of residential plots in Gurugram ranges from Rs 50,000 per square yard and beyond, while the illegal plots are sold at Rs 16,000 per square yard.

While there are enough illegal colonies in the city centre itself, a large number of these townships have come up in the outskirts of the city, where the level of scrutiny is lower.

The growth of illegal colonies in the city has resulted in the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) being unable to meet its target of collecting adequate property taxes.

Highlighting a loss, officials of the Gurugram civic body are mulling regularisation of these colonies, provided they pay taxes.

Corrupt practices by public officials were recently highlighted after a raid by the Chief Minister's flying squad on the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) office.

It was found that some officials were providing occupation certificates to builders who were building illegal colonies.

After the incident, public agencies including MCG, Department of Town Country Planning (DTCP) and HUDA have begun acting against errant builders.

Recently, notices were issued to builders in Sushant Lok area, who had flouted their surface area norms and constructed swimming pools in their builder floors. Notices were also sent to illegal paying guest facilities that have mushroomed in the city.

Besides the land mafia, these colonies are also being used by the water tanker mafia, who build illegal bore wells in these areas and then sell the water to residents at exorbitant rates.