The Hindu             30.01.2014

MCC nod enough for houses on ‘single sites’

The Urban Development Department on Wednesday approved the proposal of the Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to allow those with less than 10 cents of land within city corporation limits to construct a house without the prior approval from the authority.

Under the current rules, the land owner had first to approach MUDA, which cross checks with the Zonal Regulation, and upon approval had to approach the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) in order to build a house on the land. With Wednesday’s approval, owners need to approach only the MCC, thereby saving time and effort, said MUDA Commissioner Mohammad Nazeer.

“We had a meeting with the Department officials on Tuesday, and they had told us the order would be sent immediately. In the entire state, only Mangalore has such a provision,” Mr. Nazeer told The Hindu .

On November 8, a resolution on this regard was sent to the State government after a MUDA board meeting, wherein Minister of State for Fisheries and Youth Affairs K. Abhaychandra Jain said the process of single site approval from MUDA was causing a lot of problems in the district where marginal landholdings were common. This relaxation does not apply to those renovating houses.

Hanumanth Kamath, president of the Nagarika Hitarakshana Vedike, believed that the decision could save on at least “one month’s time” that the file spends in the MUDA office as well as high penalty charges if the land had been found to have been divided.