The Hindu 17.08.2017
Corpn to collect data on high-rises
The Corporation is set for a detailed data collection exercise on high-rise buildings in the city that have more than four storeys.
The local body has in recent years been receiving several complaints regarding flats constructed in violation of the original building permit that it had granted.
These complaints have mostly come from customers struggling to get TC numbers and other public utility connections due to the violations committed by the real estate companies.
The decision regarding data collection was taken at a steering committee meeting held earlier this week. According to officials here, the data will enable the Corporation to crack down more effectively on violations.
“We have been constantly receiving complaints from several customers who had bought individual units in various flats in the city. The real estate companies usually get building permit citing certain number of floors and a certain parking area, but later carry out the construction violating these conditions. In such cases, TC numbers cannot be provided. But, the issue here is that, it is the customers who suffer, rather than the real estate company, as they would have got all the money in advance,” Mayor V.K. Prashanth said.
Lack of monitoring
The lack of a system to constantly monitor whether the building permit conditions were being followed in construction and at later stages also needs to be addressed, he said.
According to Town Planning Committee Standing Committee Chairman R. Satheesh Kumar, the Corporation is insisting on flats having facilities for waste management and rainwater harvesting and safety measures including proper setback, before providing occupancy certificates.
“In case of such violations, we are unable to provide TC number, because of which we cannot do building tax assessment also. One way is to regularise them with an ‘Unauthorised’ TC number, with a tax three times a high as the normal rates. We will look into all the violations during the data collection and take the necessary action after that. Though we have records of all building permits issued from here, we do not have separate data on high-rises. The data collection will be done on a zonal basis,” he said.
- Local body has in recent years been receiving complaints
- Plaints are from customers struggling to get TC numbers
