Ludhiana, March 14
A team of Municipal Corporation officials removed several temporary structures and other encroachments on a portion of a street adjoining PUDA land in front of Lakshmi Cinema here last evening.
According to MC sources, the private builder, who had purchased the land from PUDA at an open auction, had put up several kiosks outside the boundary wall of the plot towards Sukhram Nagar and a portion of a street was also allegedly encroached upon. The MC officials, led by Municipal Town Planner P.K. Garg, also demolished a shed being constructed on the land, saying that the builder had not got approved the building plan.
While the property developer charged the civic body with high-handedness and unlawful action, the MC officials maintained that they had acted only because building bylaws were violated by the builder and public place was encroached upon by putting up temporary structures.
The PUDA land, carved out from the site of the erstwhile Government Institute of Knitting behind the shops in the Lakshmi Cinema market and also touching the Old G.T. Road towards the Jagraon bridge, has been in the thick of controversy during the past few months, with the private builder attempting to uproot shopkeepers and provide an additional entry to the plot.
