Sanatorium awaits land demarcation report

DHARAMPUR (SOLAN): The delay in demarcation report on land belonged to TB Sanatorium here has baldy hit the drive to find out the encroachment on Sanatorium land. The Revenue Department has taken out the demarcation three month back after the matter was highlighted by English daily. But till now no report on demarcation process has been submitted with Sanatorium so far. The Sanatorium repeated pleas to Revenue Department for report have failed to serve any purpose.

Over the years the land belonged to TB Sanatorium, Dharampur had gradually been encroached upon. Moreover in the lack of any clear cut revenue records it was virtually impossible to find out the encroachment. The encroachment has become a source of nuisance for TB patients. The Sanatorium management had failed to check the encroachment as some staff members of Sanatorium were allegedly involved in encroachment activities.

As per information available it was local landlord Pandit Dev Dutt who donated 52 bigha of land to British to set up the sanatorium. Interestingly in past the demarcation of land had taken place on many occasions but of no avail. Similarly no efforts have been made to erect fencing around sanatorium to check the encroachment.

The report delay was highlighted in district NGOs Joint Consultation Committee (JCC) quarterly meeting with DC Solan. In this meeting the Revenue Department has admitted that during demarcation process, 22 cases of encroachment were detected on sanatorium land. In this meeting the DC Solan has asked Revenue Department to file demarcation report before next meeting.

The issue was also raised by Mr. Ramesh Chauhan the Chairman of Solan Panchayat Samiti in district level Grievance Committee recently. The committee headed by the local sitting Congress MLA, Mr. Raghu Raj has sought immediate submitting of demarcation report.

Meanwhile K.K. Sharma, Tehsildhar Kasauli asserted that there was no delay in submitting the report. The land settlement work on area was currently under process following High Court order. The clear picture about Sanatorium land would come out only after the completion of settlement work, maintained Mr. Sharma.

Jagmeet Y. Ghuman