CHANDIGARH: Punjab government has failed to tame the colonizers in the state so far in spite of its repeated attempts to lure them into regularizing their illegal colonies.

According to official figures, there are as many as 10,000 illegal colonies in the state spread over an area of more than 40,000 acres in different towns and cities of Punjab. This is in addition to the illegal structures which have come up in a hap-hazard manner all over the state.

The recently unveiled government policy laying down guidelines for regularizing illegal colonies after payment of requisite fee has failed to enthuse the colonizers, who are advancing one excuse after the other to avoid doing so. The state government has an elaborate set-up to ensure planned and regulated growth of urban settlements. This includes Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), Improvement Trusts, municipal corporations, committees and the like, but this has failed to check mushroom growth of illegal colonies.

According to one estimate, there are as many as 719 illegal colonies in Ludhiana, 764 in Amritsar, 763 in Bathinda, 672 in Patiala, 618 in Mohali and 549 in Jalandhar. Informed sources said that this could not have been possible without the connivance of concerned officials, whose real job is to prevent illegal colonies. As a matter of fact, several colonies have mushroomed right under the nose of officials.

The response of the colonizers to the new state government policy for regularizing illegal colonies has been tepid so far. After ensuring a watered-down version of the policy, colonizers are seeking further concessions in the fee to be charged for regularizing colonies. However, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is the architect of the new policy, has made it clear that there will no further extension in the last date for submission of applications for regularizing colonies.