Just behind Cyber City, ‘highrises’ mushroom illegally on plots for poor

GURUGRAM: In the backdrop of glitzy buildings of the city’s biggest commercial hub, Cyber City, lies a cluster of 60 sq yard plots in DLF 3. Originally meant for the economically weaker section (EWS), these plots in the U, S and V blocks now house four and five-storey buildings that are home to many people, none of whom can be classified as poor.
In fact, TOI conducted a reality check earlier this month and found that as many as 2,000 EWS plots, of a total 3100, have constructions up to four and five-storey though owners are only permitted to construct a basement and up to two-and-a-half floors.And most of these buildings have been converted into illegal paying guest accommodations.
Those who were the first settlers said DLF 3 used to be one of the posh colonies in the city. “When we moved to DLF 3 in 1999, we used to have access to two hours of water supply twice a day and uninterrupted power supply. Now, we get 15 minutes of water supply daily and power cuts are also frequent. It is all because the population has increased manyfold in the past five to six years,” said Kushal Kumar, a local resident.
When contacted, senior town planner of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) Sudhir Chauhan said, “We’ll impose penalty on all under-construction houses if they’re found to be violating any dust pollution norms. We’ll carry out an inspection and take strict action against the offenders.”