Indian Express 25.11.2009
Amnesty scheme to legalise constructions
In the wake of the civic administration failing to regularise rampant constructions in the 23 merged villages, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday announced it would soon launch an amnesty scheme to legalise these constructions.
The administration also asked citizens not to purchase property that did not have certification from the civic body. Congress corporator Dattatray Sasane raised the issue of civic administration serving notices to buildings that were constructed without the civic administration permission in the 23 merged villages. He said there were large number of such structures in the village and they needed to be regularised as their demolition would make many people homeless.
NCP corporator Mohansingh Rajpal said the civic administration has also served notices to various properties in the old city limits even though the construction dates back to 25 years. Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade said the responsibility of the civic administration was to approve building construction plans that are as per rules and regulations.
The civic administration has to ensure the developers carry out construction as per the approved plan, he said. “Citizens should occupy properties only after checking the completion certificate of the building issued by the civic body.”
City engineer Prashant Waghmare said the PMC has updated data of all new constructions that have come up in last few years and had introduced schemes to bring the old structures into record books. “There was poor response in the past to the amnesty scheme to regularise structures in these villages. However, the scheme would be again launched,” he said, adding, there will be simplification of the procedure so that citizens take benefit from it.
Earlier, Congress corporator Arun Dhimdhime suggested that the civic administration blacklist the construction company that fail to complete the work in time and get the necessary certification from the civic body. Shiv Sena corporator Chandrakant Mokate urged the elected representatives to stop pushing for the building construction proposals of various developers.
