Chennai: With whopping 1.5 lakh buildings with violations at Chennai metropolitan area (CMA), only 35 building owners have applied to regularise their buildings under the housing department's amnesty scheme. The scheme will be ending in 5 days on December 21.
According to a Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) source, 113-C scheme, which was announced to regularise buildings with violations, has received a poor response from the building owners, owing to exorbitant penalties. CMDA has received only 35 applications to regularise the buildings and Rs 2.5 crore has been collected from those building owners, the source added.
The state government had appended 113-C section to Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1972, by adhering to a high court direction. The six-month scheme, which is ending on December 21, rolled out on June 22. With five days left for the scheme to end, the housing department officials had said that there is a likelihood that the penalty could be reduced and scheme extended.Meanwhile, a department official said that if the government decided not to extend the deadline, the violated buildings would face severe action.
It is also learnt that the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) has received only 5 applications seeking to regularise the buildings with violations throughout the state, against 3.5 lakh violated buildings in the state.
