CMDA states that 1% of the buildings were constructed without any violation
Panchayat raj minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu visits site of building collapse in Vizag city. (Photo: DC )
Chennai: The status report filed by the Chennai corporation and buildings regulator Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) states that only one per cent of the buildings in George Town (Sowcarpet) area were constructed without any violation.
The Madras high court on Friday asked advocate general to place before the court the steps and mechanism by which the government proposes to place in order to deal with this problem.
Disposing of a PIL from ‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy, the high court had on August 7 directed authorities to carry out a detailed inspection of each building in George Town area within three months and demolish the unauthorised constructions in case of non-compoundable deviations within one month thereafter.
The court posted the matter to November 7 for filing compliance report. Accordingly, the CMDA and Chennai Corporation conducted a preliminary survey of the buildings and filed a status report.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan said the report shows a horrific picture of inadequate staff in Town and Country Planning wing and that only one per cent of the buildings stated to be compliant i.e., 72 out of 11,304 buildings. Out of 11,304 buildings surveyed, 10,381 buildings had no setback at all.
Advocate general A.L. Somayaji concedes that the task was enormous and one of the aspects to be explored could be to entrust the supervision to the committee constituted by a division bench of this court in Consumer Action Group vs State of Tamil Nadu case in 2006.
He however submitted that he will obtain instructions as to the extent of work already being undertaken by the committee and the mechanisms to be put in place so that some sense was brought into this chaos within a reasonable period of time.
Listing out the number of buildings constructed with violations, the corporation and CMDA in its report submitted that the corporation was taking continuous enforcement action even with its limited manpower.
Since the beginning of this year, 607 notices have been issued calling for approved plan, 162 lock and seal notices have been issued, 26 de-occupation notices have been issued and 12 buildings have actually been sealed, it was pointed out.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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