Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995. (2) It shall extend to the whole of the State of Punjab. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, in the Official Gazette, appoint. Statement of object and reasons. - Rapid urbanisation today is an all pervasive and irreversible facet of development. Unfortunately, urbanisation in the State has largely taken the form of unplanned and uncontrolled private colonisation and massive building activity in and around cities and along the highways. As a result, slums, uncongenial environment, only nominal civic amenities, choked city roads, encroached public lands and congested highways are a common feature visible everywhere. The different laws meant to control and guide urban development tended to tackle the problems on a piecemeal basis. The overlapping roles and functions of the multiple authorities enforcing these laws and carrying out the policies of the Government without proper direction and control from a central agency have only aggravated the situation. Moreover, the process of urban development has been too dependent on the availability of Government funds. At the various national for a, it has been repeatedly stressed that every State should have a comprehensive law to provide for the preparation, strict enforcement and rapid implementation of regional and city master plans. At present, there is no such law in the State. The Punjab Housing Development Board set up under the Punjab Housing Development Board Act, 1972 (Punjab Act No. 6 of 1973) has not succeeded in bringing about a substantial increase in the housing stock especially for the Economically Weaker Sections of the Society. For generating the required funds for a massive house building programme, it is fell that a close interlink between optimum exploitation of the valuable asset of urban land. For meeting the challenges of urban growth and to provide for a workable framework for comprehensive planned and regulated development of regions and urban areas, the constitution of a State level Urban Planning and Development Authority is considered very essential. The existence of a reliable and wide road network system facilitating smooth traffic movement within the cities as well as over different regions is the single most important requirement of planned development and good living environment. It is felt that the existing law dealing with this issue namely the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas (Restriction of Unregulated Development), Act, 1963, is not fully effective and many of the provisions need to be made more stringent while some need to be deleted. It is, therefore, intended to achieve the following main objectives :- (i) to consolidate, with suitable modifications, in one place laws dealing with the different aspects of urban development ; (ii) to set up a high powered Board to advise the State Government and to guide and direct planning and development agencies, with respect to matters pertaining to the planning, development and use of urban and rural land; (iii) to set up a State level Urban Planning and Development Authority and to provide for the setting up of Special Urban Planning and Development Authorities and New Town Planning and Development Authorities to promote and secure better planning and development of different regions, areas and cities; (iv) to create a legal and administrative set up for the preparation and enforcement of Master Plans for regions, areas and for existing and new cities; (v) to make the whole programme of urban development mainly a self- sustaining and self-paying process; (vi) to interlink land development and house construction permitting full exploitation of the urban land resource to provide a boost to the programme of house construction, especially for the Economically Weaker Sections of the Society; (vii) to provide a legal, administrative and financial framework for the preparation and execution of Town Development Schemes aimed at filling the gaps in the required civil infrastructure and securing the renewal and redevelopment of congested and decayed areas in the existing towns. CHAPTER I Preliminary