In its battle against illegal constructions in the city, the Coimbatore Corporation has devised a new strategy. According to sources in the Corporation, the officials in the Town Planning wing plan to collect a deposit along with the fee payable for granting building plan approval.
Once the building construction is complete and the applicants return to the Corporation for getting completion certificate and the building assessed, the officials will inspect the building. If they find that the applicants had constructed the buildings according to the plan and without approval, the Corporation would return the deposit. If not, the Corporation would not return the deposit.
This would be in addition to other measures like not assessing the building if the deviation from the plan approved is huge, not granting water connection or even going in for demolition, the sources point out. Accordingly, the Corporation plans to collect Rs. 75 a sq m for residential buildings and Rs. 150 a sq m for commercial structures. The Corporation, as such, is grappling with the problem of building violations, mostly in commercial establishments, where the space earmarked for parking is let out to shops. This results in owners and employees of shops in such complexes parking their vehicles on the road. The customers who go to such shops are also troubled, as there is hardly any parking space left. The Corporation though has been taking anti-violation drives at regular intervals. It conducted a sustained drive in the middle of last year by sealing buildings with violations and stopping construction activity in those under construction.
This resulted in owners of such properties giving a declaration on stamp papers but nothing much happened thereafter and their promises remain on paper, the sources say.
The move to collect caution deposit comes In the backdrop of the Coimbatore Corporation planning an increase in plan approval rates, which have remained untouched in the last 10 years. The percentage of increase is likely to be 150.
Once top officials clear the proposal, it will be placed before the council for necessary action, the sources say.
