Kerala - Palakkad   

More time sought for filing complaints

PALAKKAD: The Town Planning under the Local Self-Government Department has not given sufficient time for the people to file their objections and suggestions on variations brought in the Palakkad Town Plan published in the Kerala Gazette on November 18, 2008.

Neither the government nor the Palakkad District Town Planning has informed the public through pressnotes or other means on the changes made in the master plan of the Palakkad municipality.

The last date for filing objections and suggestions expires on January 17 – that is, within two months of the gazette notification.

District Town Planner P.K. Gopi said he did not get any communication from the Chief Town Planner, Thiruvanathapuram, about the notification. So, he was not aware of the last date for filing objections and suggestions, he said.

Palakkad municipal councillor P.N. Viswanathan criticised the government and the Town Planning authorities for keeping the public in the dark about the changes that were made in the Palakkad town master plan. He demanded one month’s time for the people to file objections and suggestions.

The Government Order on the zoning regulation said that ‘these regulations shall guide the granting or refusal of permission for land development. All future considerations within the boundary prescribed in the development plan for Palakkad shall prevail over the provisions of the Kerala Municipal Building Rules in force.’

It further said that ‘zoning regulations are not intended to prohibit existing uses that have been lawfully established prior to the enforcement of these regulations. They are essentially intended to help the competent authority in decisions regarding granting or refusal of planning permissions for land use, conversions and construction of buildings….’

The people of the municipality were finding it difficult to take up construction work in the absence of the new zoning regulations.

The Kerala High Court had taken away the powers of the State government to make exemptions in the existing zoning regulation. But when the government came out with the new regulations two months ago, the Town Planning authorities here had kept it as a secret from the people, general secretary of the Licensed Engineers and Supervisors Federation (LENSFED) Mani Shankar alleged.

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