OOTY: The Greens are fuming over the large-scale defacement of the slopes in the Selas area near Coonoor to build hundreds of tourist cottages atop the hillock there.
Though the Hill Stations Buildings Rules (HSBR) was brought in during 1993 to restrict and regulate the mushrooming constructions in the hills, the present officialdom in Nilgiris seems to have decided to give a go-by to the HSBR as complaints of unauthorised constructions defying the HSBR, keep springing up from across the hills.
A hillock near Selas near Coonoor is being defaced and landscaping works are underway to build concrete structures there.
Stating that this showed the utter negligence of the district administration of Nilgiris, Mr S. Jayachandran, joint secretary of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement (TNGM) said that construction of commercial structures need to undergo many processes under the HSBR and only a few are permitted.
“It is learnt that a Mumbai-based constructor plans to erect nearly 100 tourist cottages in the hillock in Selas. It is also learnt that civic body officials have accorded permission to the builder to construct cottages by taking permission to build dwelling houses and then convert these into tourist cottages once construction is over,” he added.
Since the Madras High court has recently constituted a committee to look into the irregularities in implementation of the HSBR, the TNGM would take up this issue with the court to seek action against the officials concerned,” he said.
