COIMBATORE: Fifteen more
buildings were locked and sealed on Monday by the city corporation as
part of the ongoing drive against buildings violating approved norms. In
all, the city municipal corporation has sealed 27 buildings since
Saturday. Twenty-eight more buildings are in the fray. Local Planning
Authority (LPA) is expected to start acting against high-rise buildings
in its purview from May 3 after the list of buildings in violation of
norms is finalised. LPA had earlier identified 146 illegal buildings but
are presently confirming whether any further rectification had been
carried out by the violators before starting action on these structures.

“We are now compiling a list of commercial buildings in the city from
2007 onwards to verify the total number of violators in the city,” said S
Sivarasu, deputy commissioner, Coimbatore municipal corporation.

The corporation armed with a list of 55 illegal buildings, which were served notices six months ago, began its lock and seal operation soon after four women
died in a major fire at a commercial complex here at Lakshmi Mills
junction on Thursday. The civic body officials focussed on commercial
buildings on TV Samy Road, Saibaba Colony, Kamarajar Road, Trichy Road,
Mettupalayam Road and Dr Nanjappa Road. The drive began on Saturday with
the corporation sealing 12 under construction buildings.

“We
are focussing on all new buildings that are being erected against the
building plan that was approved from the town planning section of the
corporation,” said a senior corporation official.

The
corporation is preparing a list of violators based on the property tax
assessments. Stern action will be initiated against those commercial
buildings in the coming days. The civic body is also planning to
crosscheck whether 85 buildings previously sealed, were reopened after
rectification.

“We have to now verify whether those building
owners had actually taken any corrective measures or were allowed to
resume activities through some negotiation with the concerned
officials,” said an official involved in the lock and seal drive.

Building owners are given a 30-day deadline, from the date of sealing,
to initiate corrective measures as per the approved plan. If they fail
to do so, a report has to be forwarded to the LPA on the basis of which
demolition action is initiated. However, presently, both the corporation
and LPA have not been meticulously following up on their lock and seal
drives. Consequently, building owners have been able to resume
construction activities without obstacles.