The Hindu      23.06.2016 

CMDA panel told it has ‘no authority’

Wednesday’s meeting was the first one to be held after the AIADMK returned to power. —Photo: R. Ragu

Members of the Monitoring Committee of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority were told on Wednesday that the committee could only make suggestions and that it had “no authority”, while the State government was “supreme and sovereign”.

Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development, made these observations during the proceedings of the 57th meeting of the committee, which convenes at regular intervals to take up important issues such as applications from promoters for regularisation.

“We were taking up the issue of application for regularisation of a multi-storey building on Santhome High Road that was declared ‘unauthorised’ after thorough reporting by the CMDA. We had rejected the application during a meeting in February itself, but it came back,” committee member and former Member Secretary of CMDA M.G. Devasahayam said.

“When we submitted that the application cannot be considered for regularisation, the Housing Secretary told us: ‘You have no authority. You cannot take a decision and can only suggest. The government is sovereign and supreme’.”

Recording the stand

In reply, the members of the monitoring committee — distinguished persons in the fields of urban planning — asked the CMDA to record in the meeting proceedings the latter’s stand that the committee had no role to play and that it was only a consulting body.

Following this, the meeting ended abruptly. This was the first meeting of the committee after the AIADMK returned to power The last meeting was in February.

Efforts to reach Mr. Yadav for a response were not successful.

The episode is bound to stir a debate surrounding the role of the committee, which has played a crucial role in planning the city’s growth.

The committee has made suggestions to the CMDA on improving the implementation of rules and administration.

During the February meeting, the application for regularisation for the building on Santhome High Road was rejected on the grounds that the width of the road was only 38 feet, as against the required 60 feet.

Further, the Floor Space Index of the building stood at 2.67, while the maximum permissible limit was only 1.5.

The Hindu      22.06.2016  

Civic body holds meet to discuss Vendors Act

The Oulgaret Municipality conducted a meeting with stakeholders on Wednesday.- .Photo: T.Singaravelou

: As a precursor to the implementation of the Street Vendors’ (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, the Oulgaret Municipality on Wednesday held a preliminary meeting with stakeholders comprising street vendors, traders and representatives of political parties.

Municipal Commissioner M.S.Ramesh said the meeting was held to elicit the views and suggestions from stakeholders on the implementation of rules.

Before the implementation of the provisions of Act, the government should make rules for carrying out the provisions of this Act and a Town Vending Committee should be constituted under the chairmanship of Municipal Commissioner.

The Act says members may be nominated to the committee by the Government, representing the local authority, medical officer of the local authority, the planning authority, traffic police, police, association of street vendors, market associations, traders associations, NGOs, community-based organisations, resident welfare associations, banks and such other interests as it deemed fit.

CPI (M) unit secretary R.Rajangam said, “The livelihood of street vendors should not be affected by regulating the trade. We suggested to the authorities to first constitute a town vending committee before trying to regulate the trade.”