The Hindu 01.12.2009
BPS: Municipal Corporation to knock at each applicant’s door
Staff Reporter
| Applicants should keep all necessary documents ready, says Pradyumna |
Commissioner claims good response to circle-level adalats
Clarification being sought on treating hospitals as commercial property
VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) will organise from Tuesday ward-wise adalats for 15 days for collection of documents and building plans under Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS). The drive is meant to speed up the process of disposal of applications received under BPS by covering all the applicants. Later, five adalats will be conducted in each circle to collect the prescribed penal fee, according to Municipal Commissioner P. S. Pradyumna.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Pradyumna said that the officials, including building inspectors, would knock at every applicant’s door during the drive.
The applicants should keep all necessary documents like sanctioned plan ready in hand, so that their applications could be processed quickly.
The Commissioner said that the demand notices were not issued to 7,655 applicants as they had not submitted the applications correctly. But endorsements were sent to these applicants.
Demand notices were sent to about 4,500 applicants, of whom revised plans were issued to 2,377. During the drive, the officials would meet 11,000 to 12,000 applicants personally.
The Commissioner claimed good response to the three circle-level adalats held so far. More than Rs. 6 crores was collected at these adalats, while Rs. 18 crores was collected in phase-I of the BPS.
Asked whether hospitals were being considered as commercial properties, which was highlighted in these columns recently, Mr. Pradyumna said that the decision was kept pending for the time being. “I would prefer to follow the Hyderabad example, where hospitals are being treated as commercial buildings.
We are seeking clarification about the legal position in this regard,” he said.
When asked about the need for No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Fire and Emergency Services Department, Mr. Pradyumna said that the Government had issued an order that pent houses in buildings with a height of above 18 metres could be regularised without NOC. But if an entire floor in a building of more than 18 metres height had to be regularised, then the NOC was required.
Chief City Planner P. Timma Reddy was present.
