Amritsar: Another PUDA notice in Holy City locality case; protest enters Day 27

Amritsar, September 6

The demonstration against the government and coloniser of the Holy City locality on the bypass road entered the 27th day here on Tuesday. Residents of the Holy City locality alleged that the coloniser had been arbitrarily violating the rules of Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) for the last more than a decade, but instead of taking strict action against him, the department only issues notices every time. The residents are facing the consequences of the alleged connivance of the PUDA and the coloniser.

The residents are demonstrating against authorities and coloniser obtained information under Right to Service Act (RTI) and found that PUDA had issued a final notice on August 7, 2013, to about eleven different license holders of Holy City Colony, including chief coloniser Dhillon Builders and Developers.

The licence has reportedly expired on May 30, 2010, and the prescribed conditions for the development of the colony have not been fulfilled. It is written in the notice that if all these errors are not rectified by September 22, 2013, the department will write to the Deputy Commissioner/Registrar to close the registries by taking strict action.

Holy City Township Association chief patron HS Ghumman said the surprising thing was that after the passage of nine years, when the Holy City Township Association staged a protest for their rights, instead of taking action against the colonizers, PUDA again issued a notice on August 26, 2022. There is no drinking water, internet, market, hospital, school, electricity connection and other necessary facilities in the colony. PUDA issued a notice 9 years ago, but then he fell asleep and now after being woken up by the people, they sent a notice again.”

“We have been protesting for the past 27 days against the bullying of the colonisers and the administration and the threats being made by the colonisers, but the administration is not paying attention. The residents to appealed to CM Bhagwant Mann to take strict action against such colonizers who are defrauding the government of crores of rupees. Their assets should be investigated.

Dilbagh Singh Sohal, Surinderpal Singh Mahal, Dr. Bikramjit Singh Bajwa, Karan Singh, Amandeep Singh Sethi, Sandeep Singh Bajwa, Dilbagh Singh Sandhu, Gurpratap Singh Chhina, and Ramanpreet Singh Bajwa were also present during the demonstration.