Nearly three years after the merger of Tiruverumbur town panchayat and four village panchayats with Tiruchirapalli City Corporation, owners of plots in unapproved layouts in the five newly-created wards are still unable to get plan approvals for construction of buildings in their property. The corporation is still awaiting a response from the government after having sought an order for the regularisation of unapproved residential layouts in the five wards.
The five new wards, 61 to 65, were created following the merger of Tiruverumbur town panchayat and Pappakurichi, Ellakudi, Keezha Kalkandarkottai and Alathur panchayats, all in the eastern suburb of the city, with the corporation following the delimitation exercise. The merger was ordered by the government in September 2010.
According to sources, there are about 17,500 plots in unapproved layouts in the five new wards spread over Golden Rock, Ariyamangalam zones, and in other parts of the city. Over 15,000 of these plots are said to be in the newly-added wards.
Several houses have already come up in the residential localities. But those who want to construct buildings on the property over the past three years have not been able to do so as the corporation says it cannot entertain their applications for plan approvals without regularisation of their layouts.
“We have represented the case to the corporation and other elected representatives. But so far, there has been no response. Civic officials simply say they are still awaiting a government order. But many plot owners like me are facing problems as we cannot raise housing loans from banks to build houses. All we want is to follow the rules, but we are fed-up over the red tape,” says an owner of plot in one such layout near Kattur Pappakurichi.
Although councillors from the wards have been raising the issue at the corporation council, they get the same stock reply from the officials. The corporation, officials say, has already sent a report to the Commissioner of Municipal Administration identifying plots in the unapproved layouts in the five wards and elsewhere in the city.
The corporation had sought either an extension of an earlier government scheme (providing for regularisation of layouts) implemented a few years ago or issue of a fresh GO for regularising the unapproved layouts. Recently, the corporation started assessing property in the newly-added wards for tax.
