Survey to curb use of houses for commercial purposes in Gurugram

In a first, the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) will conduct a door-to-door survey to check commercialisation of residential properties under its jurisdiction. The Tribune had recently highlighted that schools, hospitals, guesthouses, gyms and company offices were being illegally run from ‘kothis’ in Gurugram’s key sectors 17, 14, 15, 31 and 46.

The HSVP will begin the survey from Monday and the properties of violators will be taken over.

“We will conduct a survey in sectors 17, 14 and 15 in the first phase and visit each house to check if any commercial activity is being conducted from there. The properties being illegally used for commercial purposes will be taken over,” said HSVP Estate Officer Vikas Dhanda.

An internal survey by the enforcement wing of the HSVP in 2023 had revealed that illegal commercialisation was the biggest issue facing 70 per cent of the residential areas under the HSVP across the state.

The survey highlighted that several residential properties had been illegally modified and even though notices had been served in many cases, they were not followed up.

To set an example, the HSVP has issued a second and “final” warning to a Sector 17-based politician, Naveen Goyal, who has repeatedly been accused of causing nuisance in his sector by allegedly converting his residential premises into a commercial office. Goyal was served the first notice in October and given 15 days to rectify all violations. As he failed to either furnish a response or take any corrective measure, he was issued a second notice as per the norms.

“We have served him the second notice as the final warning. A survey has been conducted on his premises and action will be taken soon,” added Dhanda. The Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of Sector 17 has also written to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, saying that it has been highlighting the menace by the politician for the last one year but no action has been taken so far. The RWA also drew attention to the misuse of residential properties across Gurugram, which was leading to parking woes and traffic chaos, besides raising safety concerns.

The department in its survey will also be cracking the whip on unregistered paying guest accommodations and hostels running from residential houses.