Panchkula, September 11: With a large number of hutments having occupied the Sector 11 pathways, they are a cause of concern not only for the shop owners but also for area residents. When HUDA authorities shoo them away, they come back in no time. The residents are a harassed lot with jhuggi dwellers not only cooking, washing, bathing, but defecating in the area too.

“Come to the heart of Panchkula, and one can see the ugly face of a beautiful city. On the pavement, by the side of the main road, one can see jhuggis built up. The people living in those cook, wash, bathe and even defecate there. The whole area stinks,” said Smith Pulikkal, an area resident. He added that not even vehicle parking has become difficult with children playing all around the area.

Similar sentiments were echoed by another area resident Sunil Yadav who said that it seems like hell passing this way. “As I stay close by, I normally pass this way. It is pathetic to see how the administration sleeps over the issue while these jhuggi dwellers put up their hutments whereever they find an empty space. This problem is not limited to any particular sector, one can find a large number of their population having put up hutments everywhere,” said Yadav.

He said that it was a matter of shame for the authorities if they could not even curb the increasing number of these hutments in the city, growing at an alarming rate. Talking to Newsline, a HUDA official said, “Every time we remove them, they appear again. But we are thinking over the issue and soon a strategy would be chalked out to strictly deal with the situation.”