The MC was given the charge of the house way back in 1985 and as per the LIT original map of the building — a copy of which is with Ludhiana Newsline — the maximum height of a shop-cum-flat (SCF) cannot exceed 2.5 floors, which includes a shop, flat and a loft. The map allowed 40 SCFs.
The map further states that the shopping booth cannot exceed a single storey with size 8.3X25.3 feet. The LIT sanctioned 48 such booths. As many as 44 booths measuring 8.3X21 feet and six plots with the size 22X60 were also marked by the LIT.
Ravi Sharma, an RTI activist, who received the map and detailed information of Bhadaur House, shows drawing number DTP(L) 6/69 dated February 4, 1969 when the Bhadaur map was drawn. It clearly states the size and height of buildings in Bhadaur house.
But at present, the building is in a pathetic state with various shop owners flouting building norms. “The building now is a complete mess with all the restaurants, hotels, shops and others violating norms with multiple stories beyond the sanctioned map. It shows how miserably MC has failed to take an action over several years and that too in a building which is so close to MC zone A headquarters,” said Sharma.
Municipal Town Planner (MTP) Raj Kumar said, “No changes in the LIT- passed map can take place. If buildings have violated the norms, it is an offence.”
Avtar Singh Azad, executive officer, LIT, said, “Only a government order can allow change in height of buildings at Bhadaur House.”