Post-Mohali murder, UT wakes up to need for defining PG norms

Having ignored the need for stringently enforcing the mandate of getting a paying guest accommodation registered in the city for over two years, the UT Administration is now up for some serious thinking on the issue.

Call it a knee-jerk reaction after a young lawyer in Mohali was killed over parking of vehicles by paying guests of an unregistered PG or the sudden awakening, but the officials of the UT Finance Department are pulling out old files to begin the exercise of defining a paying guest accommodation in city.

Interestingly, as per the estimates of the UT Estate Office, there are 700 paying guests accommodations in the city, out of which less than a dozen are registered.

Six months ago, the UT Finance Department (FD) had asked the UT Estate Office to define a PG. That too after the Estate Officer had sent a letter to FD, seeking clarity on certain pending issues, including the exact definition of a paying guest accommodation.

Sources said UT EO officials were of the opinion that a paying guest accommodation was the one where food was served. However, with the changing needs of the students, working women, who comprise most of the PGs in the city, many opt for outside food, thus requiring just the accommodation.

Speaking with Chandigarh Newsline, UT Finance Secretary V K Singh said, "PG accommodation is a need of students in the city since it is an educational hub. We also cannot drive the students out of the city like this. Indeed, it is a very tricky subject but we are trying our best to figure out a way so that we do not put an end to this facility. Of course, we are coming with a number of hostels in the city for both girls and boys so that they do not have to stay out. But how many students can even hostels accommodate? So we are treading the path carefully so as to maintain balance between the facility as well as our guidelines."

... contd.

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