LUDHIANA: Taking U-turn on its proposal to declare a road in Sarabha Nagar as commercial, the Ludhiana municipal corporation has now decided to send notices to commercial units set up illegally on the said stretch.
The latest move has come following severe criticism from residents, who had described the proposal as illegal saying that the area was purely residential.
Several complaints pertaining to illegal commercial activities on the stretch had reached senior officials of the local bodies department, forcing officials to drop the lenient approach against the owners of illegal units.
Recently, AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi had given recommendation to convert this road in Sarabha Nagar as commercial, citing the presence of commercial activities on the stretch. Gogi had been convinced with the owners of these commercial properties, who had approached him.
But residents said it is a dedicated residential area and a designated market is already there for shops and commercial activities. The residents claimed that such commercial activities in residential areas will increase parking problems and traffic jams.
A senior MC official said, “The local bodies department has issued orders. Now after getting an approval from the MC commissioner, we will serve notices to owners to stop their commercial activities. We will also ask PSPCL to snap connections if the commercial units do not mend their ways.” He said they had sent the proposal to declare this road commercial.
Notably, the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) had developed Sarabha Nagar like any other residential schemes in the city and handed the are over to the MC for maintenance. The LIT had also questioned the the civic body’s deviation from the original plan. The LIT officials had even written a letter to the MC to take an NOC from them before issuing building plans in their scheme areas.
