Coimbatore Corporation writes to government on construction in added areas

State requested to fix one-time fee to regularise sites, buildings

December 20, 2014 10:52 am | Updated 10:52 am IST - COIMBATORE

With the aim of helping residents get approval for construction or additional construction of houses or commercial establishments in added areas, the Coimbatore Corporation has decided to write to the State Government seeking clarity on the subject.

Resolution In a special resolution moved by Mayor P. Rajkumar and accepted unanimously by the Council, the Corporation had said that it requested the State Government to fix a one-time fee to regularise sites and buildings that had the approval of local bodies that had merged with it, sites that were in unapproved layouts in added areas and buildings (houses and commercial establishments) that were constructed in violation of the rules.

Mr. Rajkumar explained that after the merger of three municipalities, seven town panchayats and a village panchayat, when residents approached the Corporation for plan approvals, it was forced to reject applications on the ground that the layouts were unapproved. Plus, the civic body was also forced to not grant additional construction approvals on buildings that had the approval of the merged local bodies.

The civic body had been facing the problem for the past three years and so were the residents. To overcome the imbroglio, it had decided to write to the Government.

It was only a few days ago, Coimbatore Consumer Cause Secretary K. Kathirmathiyon had highlighted the problem stating that applicants for construction in added areas were forced to run from pillar to post.

There had been cases where the applicants became ineligible for bank loans for additional construction as they did not have the Corporation approval. Citing an instance, he said a Vadavalli resident could not prepare even the plan as it was found not in conformity with the Corporation rules.

Mr. Kathirmathiyon had also said that the problem was peculiar to the Coimbatore Corporation because it used Auto DCR to grant plan approvals.

He had suggested that the Corporation grant permission for construction of additional building for houses that were on regularised layout or had been regularised, constructed as per the plans that were approved by the then local body and were less than 4,000 sq.ft.

Engineers pulled up for poor execution of works

Deadlines fixed for the projects executed by the engineering wing

Staff Reporter reports:

Mayor P. Rajkumar pulled up the Coimbatore Corporation engineers for lapses at the Council meeting on Friday and asked them to pull up their socks and perform better.

At the meeting, he asked for the status of the project to improve street lighting in added areas by installing energy-efficient LED lights. The Mayor’s question followed complaints from added area Councillors.

His next question to the engineers was on water supply. Councillors across zones said that water supply in pockets in the city was poor – in some cases to the extent of supply once in 18 days. The councillors also said that if this were to be the condition when the water level in reservoirs was satisfactory, there were worried about the situation after March 2015.

Mr. Rajkumar sought details on current supply, demand and the gap. He also wanted to know the progress of water supply improvement works under way.

During discussions on distribution of subsidy of Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme beneficiaries and payment of wages to persons engaged on contract to look after street light functioning, he said that the engineering wing suffered from “selective amnesia” and added that he would not tolerate any further lapses on its part.

Mr. Rajkumar then fixed deadlines for the projects the engineering wing executed.

The discussion on subsidy payment for the BSUP beneficiaries was one the highlights of the day as councillors highlighted lapses in the schemes. Accusing the engineering wing of withholding subsidy on the grounds that the beneficiaries were ineligible as they had purchased land at high cost and would not come under the below poverty line, the Councillors said that the land cost in slums in the city was high as the State Government had increased the guideline value.

There was no way the urban poor could register land below the guideline value. Instead, they could look at the site location to ascertain if the applicants were poor or otherwise.

After suggestions from various councillors, the Mayor asked Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan to write to the Government for clarity on the issue.

Councillors wanted the civic body to find an early solution to street dog menace, protect reserve sites, clean drains at vulnerable points in their wards, take over panchayat union schools, provide street lights at accident prone points, take up road construction works at areas where underground drainage pipelines were laid.

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