The Hindu 29.11.2010
Drastic fall in building plan applications
Staff Reporter
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Officials attribute it to GO 450 |
VIJAYAWADA: GO 450 issued by the State government in October has
apparently made a dent into the number of building plans submitted for
approval to the town planning wing of the Vijayawada Municipal
Corporation (VMC).
Officials admit that there is a drastic fall in the number of
applications ever since the Government issued the GO that mandates the
applicants to mortgage 10 per cent of built-up area for the building
proposed on a plot area of 100 sq metres. Till now, the Andhra Pradesh
Revised Building Rules in the State had a set of conditions that
included exemption from mortgage clause to plots of size up to 300 sq.
metres and a height of 6 metres.
The town planning wing has so far hardly received 20 to 25 plans for
buildings proposed in plots of area up to 100 sq. metres. Most of the
individual residential houses in the city are built in plots of less
than 100 sq. metres. However, the exact number of buildings constructed
in plots of size up to 100 sq. metres is not available.
Revised rules
As the Revised Building Rules (RBR) issued in 2007 considered only
two categories of plots – of a size of up to 300 sq. metres and those of
a size of above 300 sq. metres – the data pertaining to buildings in
plots of up to 100 sq. metres is not available. The town planning wing
has been dividing the plans in the categories of plots of up to 300 sq.
metres and plots of a size between 200 sq. metre and 300 sq. metres so
far, sources say.
The town planning wing receives, on an average, 1,200 applications
per annum. Of this, about 50 per cent applications are related to plans
proposed in plots of less than 300 sq. metres size. The VMC received 106
building plans for plots of more than 300 sq. metres in 2008, while it
was 101 in 2009 and 155 this year till date. Likewise, the number of
plans received for plots of a size between 200 sq. metres and 300 sq.
metres was 136 in 2008; 249 in 2009 and 245 this year till date, sources
say. The Corporation, in all, received 1,430 applications in the
current calendar year, while it was 1,594 and 1,147 in 2009 and 2008,
respectively. Of these, the town planning cleared 1,106, 1,460, and
1,284 within a week of submission of applications.
‘Rude shock’
CPI(M) leader Ch. Babu Rao describes the GO as a rude shock to the
middle class people planning to construct houses. The owners would have
to forego the mortgaged portion even if there is any small violation or
deviation from the building plan sanctioned, he says.
