NGT orders restoration of park after petition disputes library construction by civic body
The Municipal Corporation has admitted that the impugned areas on which a library is situated, falls under parks/major open spaces as per the provisions of Ludhiana Master Plan. The admission by the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana came in a matter related to encroachments over green belts along Lodhi Club Road as well as Old GT Road (Jagraon Bridge to Sherpur Chowk) as filed with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by the Council of Engineers and its members. The admission by MC comes two years after the filing of the case.
The bench has now directed restoration of the park and granted the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana two weeks to take appropriate steps.
The petitioner in the case, Kapil Arora, said that despite a notice against the construction of library in the park at Dholewal Chowk, the MC has spent more than Rs 22 lakh without bothering about the environment as well as defying the directions of the Supreme Court.
In order to hide the facts regarding the status of land along Old GT Road and Lodhi Club Road as also to give undue benefits to the encroachers in green belts on Lodhi Club Road, the MC repeatedly claimed the impugned (disputed) areas as part of road.
“The planning of any city is done based on the Master Plan and as held by Supreme Court, the status of areas marked as green belts, parks and open spaces cannot be changed by way of any amendment. Further, as per a notification of 2018 issued by Punjab government, all green areas and neighbourhood parks need to be protected from parking,” said Arora
Notably, the District and Town Planning Department has already clarified the impugned areas as green belts in the Master Plan.
Vikas Arora further added that despite knowing the facts as well as spending crores on development of green belts and parks at Old GT Road and Lodhi Club Road, the MC deliberately constructed a library in the park, concretised the surface of such areas to allow parking of vehicles and flouted tender for paid parking in the green belt at Old GT Road too.
“Many trees have been felled from time to time due to concretisation as well as illegal parking in green belts and a major portion of the green belts is being used by vehicle repair workshops,” added members of the Council of Engineers.
Kapil Arora added that after hearing the arguments from both sides, the Bench held that the MC has admitted that the park in which the library is constructed, falls in the category of city park/major open spaces in the Master Plan of Ludhiana as produced by the applicant.
The NGT, in its orders, made it clear that the library building must be removed by the civic body from park within next two weeks.
Meanwhile, the issue of encroachment on green belts by the respondent school as well as club and concretisation of green belts will be heard in the next hearing scheduled for November 5.
