Joint inspection conducted for civil, defence land exchange in Solan

A joint inspection was conducted here yesterday to facilitate the exchange of land between the defence authorities and the Solan Municipal Corporation (MC).

“Defence officials raised some revenue-related questions like the khasra numbers of the land in question and whether a part of the land has been leased and the field staff of the Revenue Department gave clarifications. The replies will be furnished in writing to the defence officials,” said Ekta Kapta, Commissioner, Solan Municipal Corporation, who is keenly pursuing the issue.

She said, “Earlier, the defence estate officer from Ambala had sought the coordinates of the land proposed to be exchanged and these were provided to facilitate the land transfer. Other formalities are being completed to expedite the process for an early exchange of land.”

There is a ray of hope that 2,309 sq m of defence land will now be exchanged with 3,451 sq m of civil land in Solan city, which has been hanging fire since 2008. “Once the land exchange process is completed, it will facilitate the construction of a parking lot and a commercial project near the old bus stand in Solan city,” said Ekta.

Several rounds of talks have taken place between the defence officials and the civil authorities but the issue has remained unresolved. The defence authorities have not given the possession of land to the Municipal Corporation though its mutation was executed in favour of the civic body years ago.

As per the agreement, the state government was to facilitate land exchange by building a road from the National Highway-5 near the HP Tourism Development Corporation building to the Army station for unhindered movement of defence vehicles. The periphery of the land, granted to the Army authorities on the Kather bypass, lies on the National Highway-22, which is being widened to four lanes.

The road was planned to be built to ensure that the defence authorities could have unhindered access to the Army station after the existing access was transferred to the civil authorities. Though a road was built on the Kather bypass years ago, it lacked the requisite quality and an estimated Rs 86 lakh would be spent to upgrade it. A resolution had also been passed to grant this amount to the defence authorities for the purpose.

The civic body officials also sought a no-objection certificate from the defence authorities for the construction of a pedestrian path below the Army area from the old bus stand to Chambaghat.

Himachal Tribune