The Times of India 26.11.2013
BDA gets into demolition gear
BHUBANESWAR: Drawing flak for allegedly being soft towards 'influential' violators of building norms, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) on Monday for the first time started demolishing an under construction multi-storey commercial establishment at Ashok Nagar here on Monday.
On day one, floors and rooftop were drilled and portions of the walls razed. It will take at least a week to bring down the building, constructed over nearly 3,000 sq ft. More than 50 workers and two excavators were engaged to carry out the demolition.
"The building owner constructed it by violating BDA norms. The owner had not applied for approval of building plan and constructed the massive structure on a drain," BDA vice-chairman Vishal Kumar Dev told TOI. "BDA has been facing criticism that it is sparing big fishes. In reality, the big violators often get stay orders from courts. We will show zero tolerance to blatant violators," Dev said.
While the building owner was not available for comments, official sources said he started the construction in 2009. Soon after, BDA issued 'stop construction' notice on January 29, 2009. "The developer ignored the notice and went ahead. He even ignored subsequent notices served on him. The demolition order was issued on May 4, 2009. But the process was delayed due to legal fight," BDA's enforcement officer Deba Prasad Dash said. "We managed to clear the legal cases a few weeks ago," Dash added.
BDA authorities said 34 such unauthorized massive structures would meet a similar fate in the coming days. "Those buildings have been identified. The demolition drive will continue. Recently, we demolished a wall constructed on a natural drain in Nayapalli," Dev said.
BDA's functioning has often come under the scanner as it is accused of targeting only petty violators. Though the building regulator has listed more than 18,800 cases of major violations under the Odisha Development Authority (ODA) Act, action was taken only in around 250 cases, sources said.
In February, the then housing and urban development minister Raghunath Mohanty told the state assembly the state government had issued demolition orders against 139 unauthorized buildings. These structures were allegedly obstructing roads, drains and government land in the city.
The government had drawn flak over unauthorized constructions obstructing natural drains during a flood in the low-lying areas of the state capital in 2011, resulting in rainwater entering residential houses.
