The Bill for regularisation of unauthorised colonies, plots and buildings is all set to be presented in the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha following the go-ahead by the Punjab Cabinet on Monday."The Punjab Laws (Special Provisions for regularization of unauthorized colony) Bill, 2018" seeks to provide basic civic amenities like water supply, sewerage, electricity and road connectivity to people living in the unauthorised colonies. It will also pave the way for the formulation of a comprehensive policy for regularisation of these colonies and plots/buildings across the state, an official spokesperson disclosed after a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.There are at present around 7000 illegal colonies, of which 5000 were located outside MC limits, disclosed the spokesperson, adding that no registration of the illegal colonies would be allowed.Besides providing basic amenities to the residents of these colonies, the move was aimed at bringing all the unplanned areas into the planning framework, said the spokesperson. It would give an opportunity to those colonizers/residents who had failed to apply for either getting their unauthorized colonies regularized or bringing unauthorized plots/buildings falling in the authorized colonies compounded under previous policies.
Highlighting the key features of this policy, the spokesperson said unauthorized colonies developed before March 19, 2018 shall be regularized, with regularization charges earlier paid under the previous policies to be adjusted. However, stringent action will be taken against the colonizer of a colony which comes up after the cut-off date.Liberal charges have been fixed for regularization of colonies, and charges received from the regularization of a particular colony shall be used for providing basic infrastructure to that colony only. Payment of charges shall be in instalments within a period of one year, the spokesperson added.Committees of officers shall be constituted to regularize the colonies and plots, and any developer applying for regularisation of his colony shall have a Residents Welfare Association (RWA) in place. The RWA can also submit an application for regularization of the colony to the concerned authority under the provisions of the Bill.Further, to streamline the regularisation process, unauthorized colonies have been categorized as per the built-up area (upto 25%, 25% to 50%, more than 50% area), with a special provision for exceptional colony having more than 75% built-up area.