Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), which issues building permits in the city, has been lax in enforcing land use regulations, which are ignored with impunity. It has been found that there is hardly any verification at the ground level.
Town planning officials claim that it's the responsibility of revenue staff to check commercial activities in residential areas and levy fines for violating the norms. Property owners, taking advantage of this, have established schools, colleges, boutiques and offices. Residents complain that it not only causes inconvenience, but poses a danger as the property owners have not been taking basic safety measures to operate the commercial activity. They claimed that they've several representations were made with GHMC but it's been to no avail.
For instance, Mahender Agarwal of Kimtee- Enclave welfare association in Banjara Hills Road No 12 said that a private person who had attained a domestic building permit at 8-2-686/K/19 has leased it out to an educational institution. “We have been living in the area for 15 years, and establishing such an educational institution is causing great inconvenience and insecurity to our families. It is also a nuisance for residents,” he said.
Highly placed sources in the corporation quoted a case study of city hostels, and said that the corporation has identified 262 hostels, when in fact there are more than 5,000.
The revenue wing relies on bill collectors for identification of commercial activities in the residential areas. But field level staffs are hand-in-glove with the property owners have been indulging in irregularities.
For instance official data says there are 17 hostels in Uppal circle, while a preliminary survey conducted by the civil service found that there were 164 hostels in the area alone. Sources said that there are plenty of residential flats rented out for commercial use. Garments stores, Boutiques, offices of chartered accountants, Xerox shops, beauty parlours, clinics, consultancy rooms etc operate from residential flats and pay property tax applicable not to commercial premises, but to residences, which is lower.
A few colonies that have turned into commercial hubs are Motinagar, Kukatpally, A.S. Raonagar, Radhika, Dilshuknagar. On the eastern side, Nagole and Uppal (highly commercial due to the Uppal-Warangal highway) top the list. Many of these operate in violation of fire safety norms, which pose a grave threat to residents.
A senior GHMC official said, the corporation is aware of what is going on and will take stringent action against erring officials. He said that the GHMC would tally the trade licence fee data with the non-residential property tax payers and find out the number of commercial establishments that have been paying trade licence fee but not commercial property tax.”
Retired tax inspectors will be brought in to carry out a comprehensive survey, he added. "Lack of co-ordination within GHMC wings, and a staff crunch have resulted in high-level corruption at the ground level," the official said.
What the law says
Even if a housing society permits business activity in a particular case, such activity can still be deemed illegal and be notified.
The law includes a crucial clause on open spaces that every individual fighting against encroachers must know. It is mandatory that all the roads and open spaces earmarked in various schemes, such as cluster housing, group housing, large apartment complexes and other types of group development schemes, must be handed over to the GHMC free of cost through a registered gift deed before the occupancy certificate is issued.
The society/association may, in turn, enter into an agreement with the GHMC for utilising, managing and maintaining the roads and open spaces. In case of any violation or encroachment on roads and open spaces, the GHMC has the power to demolish the encroachments.
