Acting upon the directions of Supreme Court-appointed monitoring authority, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) last week carried out a massive sealing drive against several farmhouses and motels in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area for illegal construction on agricultural land and misuse of the properties for commercial purposes.
Revenue department officials said 15 farmhouses were sealed.
As per few reports, occupants of the properties said no prior notices were served to them. “This sealing drive is wrong as no notices were issued to us regarding the action,” said a resident of a farmhouse.
However, the officials said the building owners were served prior notices and the action was initiated after they failed to give a satisfactory reply.
As per the committee members, illegal construction was allowed till June 2015 but in most of these farmhouses, the construction was done in the recent past. Earlier this year, the monitoring committee had received complaints regarding “large-scale” unauthorised construction in Green Avenue, Pocket D-3, of Vasant Kunj and was requested to take action. Monitoring committee chairperson Bhure Lal said some of the sealed farmhouses were used for destination weddings.
“Action was taken against those violating norms and constructing illegally without sanctioning the building plan. SDMC had conducted a prior survey of the area and served prior notices to property owners but none of them replied, forcing us to seal these properties,” said a committee member.
Revenue department officials said a first information report would be registered against the violators.
