Government clearance has no meaning

The Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has recommended demolition of all structures in the Aravalli range in Faridabad but the developers of farmhouses and owners of commercial establishments claim that they have obtained all requisite approvals from the government every step of the way. Now such things can only happen in India.

Ansals have in writing that the land does not fall in the forest area andthat they had no objections. The forest department didn’t have any objections while the farm houses were being built. Approvals for water and power connections were taken. The buyers of plots had their building plans approved as well as got the sale registered. Later they had their plans approved also.

Now it is amazing that RP Balwan, member of CEC says that the NOCs issued by the forest department were unauthorised.

I think the citizens of this country need to wake up. Why? Because you cannot trust anything issued or approved by the government. How do you know that all the buildings that have come up in Gurgaon are legal? You might say but we have approvals from the concerned government department. But how do you know that they had the authority to do so? How do you know anything that you are doing is legal?

Also, why do we need these government departments?

Lets see who all will suffer? The citizens of this country who have invested money in buying plots and built homes or commercial offices. Also, this nation will suffer as resources will be wasted. Houses and building will be demolished. On one hand, we say that we do not have resources and on the other hand we waste resources because of our stupidity. Will the government departments suffer? Absolutely no. Government officials will keep on working and keep getting their salary. At the most some of them may be transferred.

The same thing happened in Delhi when Supreme Court wanted to seal unauthorised construction and commercial activity from residential areas. Yes, I agree that the people were wrong. So they should be punished. But what were government department responsible for stopping such activity doing? Did they suffer? Were they held accountable? We all know the answer to this.

So what do we need to do now? What are the lessons to be learned from this experience? Very simple. Implement the law of the land at the time that it is being violated and not after years inspite of the fact that it is being done openly. Also, we need to punish the worngdoers severely so that the same thing is not repeated again. Lastly, we need to start holding the government departments responsible fopr their action and inaction. The citizen of the country should not be the only one who should be the loser. All parties should be held accountable.

We need to bring certainty in the lives of the citizens of the country. For instance, quite a few people buy houses with their life’s earnings. What do you think he goes through when he finds that he could lose all his lifetime’s earnings.

The same type of thing is happening in Delhi now. About 351 roads which MCD has cleared under the Master Plan are not being approved by the Delhi government under some pretext. People doing commercial activity onthese roads went through 1 1/2 years of uncertainty. When their roads were surveyed and recommended by MCD, these people heaved a sigh of relief. Now after 1 year they are being told that these roads can’t be approved. Imagine what 70,000 traders and their families are going through now. If Delhi government didn’t want to approve these roads, they should have stated at the time the recommendations went to them. Why take so long to disapprove. Because some of these people may have invested money in some activity. If something is not within the norms, reject it immediately. Why keep people in the dark?

Well, the reason was elections. Now since the elections are over, Delhi government has now given its decision.

Now what should be more important? Winning the election or taking every decision in the best interest of the country and the citizens of this country? I think you should know my answer. The Country’s and citizen’s interest is the primary interest.

avinash narula