Some promoters in the city brazenly continue to construct building complexes in violation of the original planning permits.
This was revealed by a recent drive by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), the city’s principal planning agency, against deviations from the permits.
As many as 37 buildings on just three select corridors of the city were found to be in violation of plan permits. Sources in the city’s principal planning agency said separate teams comprising planners made an inspection of all special buildings (up to four floors) and multi-storeyed buildings (above four floors) on Lattice Bridge Road (Dr. Muthulakshmi Road) Arcot Road (from Kodambakkam to Porur) and Anna Nagar Second Avenue.
Arcot Road had 20 buildings with violations, L.B. Road had 12 such buildings and Anna Nagar five.
These were the findings of the special drive conducted recently, CMDA sources told The Hindu. They said this was not part of the general drive launched in July, after the collapse of the 11-storeyed building in Moulivakkam.
The principal violations include construction of additional floors to accommodate increased number of homes and reducing the mandatory number of pillars and columns. While the dates of these errant buildings’ plan sanctions and completion certificates were not immediately available, sources said they were constructed over a considerable span of time, and work on some began after the Moulivakkam building collapse.
All the 37 buildings were placed under ‘lock and seal’ as per the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971. Officials said this is the first instance in recent times of so many buildings being locked and sealed simultaneously.
They added that usually, action is taken only against a single building.
Post-Moulivakkam, the CMDA is in the process of inspecting each of the 700-odd special and multi-storeyed buildings in Chennai and its suburbs as per a court direction.
