The Hindu          28.12.2011

Site, building plan approvals trouble added area residents

Until they became a part of the Coimbatore Corporation, most of those who purchased plots in unapproved layouts and constructed houses had a good time.

For, with the help of the local body concerned they obtained both, site and building plan approval. Not only that they also managed to have water supply connection, road and street lights, again thanks to the local body. That the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) did not approve of those layouts did not bother either the plot owners or the local body.

Now those who purchase plots and construct houses in such locations are in for trouble, as the Coimbatore Corporation will not grant approvals for such unapproved layouts. Those in such layouts will not be able to get building plan or in ensuring basic amenities, as the Corporation would not be able to spend on such layouts. “Many people who purchased plots but are yet to take up construction are at a loss to know what needs to be done,” says S. Martin, a builder who is into housing.

Without the Corporation's building plan approval, those people will not be able to avail of housing loan from banks. But that will come through only when the site is approved, he says and wants the Corporation to address the issue. There are a second category of people who are also facing trouble: those who had constructed houses on unapproved sites with the local body approval and want to take up additional construction. “The houses, though on unapproved sites, have been constructed with the local body approval. Technically they are on unapproved sites,” he says and wants to know if the Corporation will accord approval for such additional construction.

The fate of street lights and roads also seems to hang fire. “Just because they are on unapproved layouts, will the Corporation not maintain them,” asks Ward 33 councillor J. Mohan Ranganathan. He represents Kalapatti, where the problem exists.

What the councillor asks is true of all the added areas of the Coimbatore Corporation.

Sources in the Corporation say that for the civic body to grant any new approval, the site must have the DTCP approval. As far as the road and street light maintenance are concerned, the civic body can take care as they have been handed over by the local body concerned as its property.

The Corporation can do nothing about it and the government must not regularise such layouts, says K. Kathirmathiyon, Secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause.

But the civic body must maintain the existing infrastructure, he adds.