HSVP fails to act, Gurugram residents write to CM Saini

The city's Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) concerned have decided to knock on the Chief Minister’s door, with the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) failing to check irregularities and encroachments in residential areas.

Taking a lead in the matter, the Sector 17 RWA has written to the CM, saying that it had been highlighting the issue for a year, but no action has been taken yet.

Since CM Nayab Singh Saini will be heading the district grievance committee of Gurugram, residents want him to address "unchecked" commercialisation of residential properties.

As per an internal survey of the enforcement wing in 2023, illegal commercialisation was the biggest issue faced by 70 per cent of HSVP sectors.

The RWA claims that while builder colonies are still manned by DTP, and have some enforcement, it is not so in around 50 HSVP sectors in the city, where older sectors like 17, 14, 31, 46 and 15 are the worst impacted.

Building bylaws are being violated to convert houses into schools, hospitals, gyms, guesthouses, and political offices.

For long, the RWA has been fighting against the alleged conversion of his house into a political and business centre by a local politician, Naveen Goyal, but has failed to get any concrete resolution.

Following repeated complaints, the HSVP served a notice on Goyal in October, threatening to demolish an alleged illegal parking erected by altering the plinth level of his pavement, but even after 10 days of the expiry of the deadline, no action has been taken.

The HSVP authorities in Gurugram failed to respond to queries about the action plan ahead. “The sector is majorly inhabited by senior citizens who had bought the plots here for a safe and peaceful life. Unchecked commercialisation of the houses, which even involves massive alterations to the original building plan, has made living here impossible. Mr Naveen Goyal, who is a prominent businessman and politician, is using his house for commercial purposes. Every single day, 30 to 50 cars are parked in front of his house in bylanes, and even on the road. This blocks the key main road of the sector. We have been fighting against it for a year, but the HSVP and other authorities have failed to act. No action against him has emboldened others, and now every second house is being converted into an office,” claimed Rakesh Jinsi, RWA president of Sector 17.

Goyal, meanwhile, has failed to respond to the allegations.

“The HSVP enforcement department continues to be inactive, and sectors like 31, 17, 14 and 15 are being converted into commercial sectors. There are clear rules that ban commercialisation of residential places, but the authority concerned has turned a blind eye. We have never heard of any raids by the HSVP or any action. While the government is serious about encroachments in public areas, even this needs to be dealt with,” said the RWA Federation in a statement.

Gurugram MLA Mukesh Sharma, speaking to The Tribune, said residents had approached him with the issue. “We will ensure that no political clout is used by anybody to harass residents or encroach on any area. I will take up the matter with the HSVP,” he said.