Moving ahead in the direction of formulating the new policy for regularization of illegal colonies and give relief to the stakeholders of these colonies, a meeting of ministers and MLAs was held here today at Punjab Civil Secretariat to discuss the draft of the new policy. The meeting was chaired by Tript Bajwa, Minister of Housing & Urban Development, Government of Punjab.Onslaught of the meeting, the Housing & Urban Development Minister Mr. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa briefed the members about the process adopted for drafting the New Policy. He said that he along with the senior officers of the department held separate meetings with the colonizers of both legal and illegal colonies and the residents of these colonies. He further briefed that the new draft placed for discussion in this meeting has been prepared by an officers committee which has tried to incorporate all the valid suggestions submitted by the colonizers and the common people in the earlier meetings.After this Ms. Vini Mahajan, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, department of Housing & Urban Development formally placed the draft of the New Policy for regularization of unauthorized Colonies which was further elaborated by Mr. Harpreet Sudan, Chief Administrator, Patiala Development Authority. He explained that the policy has been drafted keeping in mind the interests of the residents/plot holders of the unauthorized colonies.
The policy shall be applicable to the entire state including Municipal Limits, he said.The ministers and MLAs present in the meeting placed their views on various points mentioned in the draft of the policy. They emphasized that the department must consider the welfare of the residents living in the illegal colonies as well as of those who have bought plots there. They appreciated the draft of the policy prepared by the officials of the department of Housing & Urban Development.Mr. Tript Bajwa assured all the public representatives present in the meeting that the new policy would be finalized keeping in view the interests of general public and all the stake holders including colonizers, plot holders and government. He asked the ministers and MLAs to further send their suggestions in writing to the department, so that those could also be incorporated in the draft of the policy. 'Next meeting to finalize the policy would be held next week,' said Tript Bajwa.Among those present in the meeting were Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu, Local Government Minister, Mr. Manpreet Badal, Finance Minister, Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu Animal Husbandry Minister, Mr. Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria Revenue Minister, Mr. Sundar Sham Arora Industries Minister, Mr. Bharat Bhushan Ashu Food & Civil Supplies Minister, Mr. Vijay Inder Singla, PWD Minister, Mr. Pargat Singh MLA, Mr. Sushil Rinku MLA, Mr. Sanjeev Talwar MLA, Ms. Vini Mahajan, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, department of Housing & Urban Development, Mr. Ravi Bhagat, IAS, Chief Administrator, PUDA/GMADA, Mr. TPS Phoolka, IAS, Director, Town & Country Planning, Mr. Gurpreet Singh, Chief Town Planner, Punjab and other senior officers of the department.