The Hindu               12.08.2013

Remove illegal structures from Ashraya colonies: Minister

Qamar-ul Islam, Minister for Municipalities and Local Bodies and Wakf, has directed Deputy Commissioner N.S. Prasanna Kumar and the City Corporation Commissioner S. Kattimani to demolish unauthorised structures in S.M. Krishna Ashraya Colony and Shaikh Roza Ashraya Colony.

He was speaking on Sunday at a review meeting he chaired to discuss the progress made in the implementation of several developmental projects in Gulbarga.

Mr. Islam said all illegal structures, including multi-storeyed buildings and commercial completes that have come up in the two colonies should be removed, and Ashraya houses be built there for the benefit of the deserving poor. He said this in response to the observation that Mr. Prasanna Kumar made with regard to illegal structures that have come up in Ashraya colonies. Corporation officials, including the Commissioner, told the Minister that a private hospital and a school building have come up in S.M. Krishna Ashraya Colony in place of Ashraya houses that the government had constructed. There were also several instances of the beneficiaries who had been allotted the houses had either illegally sold the houses or let them out on rent.

Mr. Prasanna Kumar held the city corporation officials responsible for the situation that has arisen in the Ashraya colonies. People with vested interests were demolishing houses built under the Ashraya scheme, and in its place building structures unauthorisedly. He said that the city corporation officials should take immediate measures to evict illegal occupants in the Ashraya houses in the S.M. Krishna Ashraya Colony and Sheikh Roza Ashraya Colony and hand over the same to the original beneficiaries. And, it should also be ensured that the original beneficiaries stayed in the allotted Ashraya houses and that they did not sell them away to some one else or rented it out for someone. Referring to the non-collection of the property taxes from owners of commercial buildings and the education societies, Mr. Qamar-ul Islam said that the corporation officials should initiate stringent measures immediately to collect all the dues from the educational institutions and other commercial buildings. The corporation should also collect the fees dues for displaying advertisement hoardings. Those who put up illegal hoardings should be penalised, he added.