Urban News

The Hindu       30.12.2010

Commercial building sealed in Tirupur

The structure

had come up without

plan approval

Tirupur: Local Planning Authority (LPA) officials sealed a five-storied commercial building that had come up without obtaining plan approval, and served notices on five other commercial structures under construction, in the city on Wednesday.

The LPA team under its Assistant Director C. Jeevanantham sealed the multi-storied building situated near the Collectorate on Tirupur-Palladam Road amid police security.

Mr. Jeevanantham told The Hindu that the owner of the building did not obtain the plan approval prior to the construction of the building and hence, it was sealed.

The building is situated a few metres away from the office of the LPA.

Of the five commercial buildings to which notices had been served, three were in Khaderpet area adjacent to the Tirupur Railway Station and two on the Tirupur-Avinashi Road.

Forbidden

“The owners of these buildings are forbidden from continuing the construction work until they obtain the plan approval from the authorities concerned within the mandatory 30-day period,” Mr. Jeevanantham said.

Support

LPA sources said that the Corporation officials did not extend adequate support to the LPA officials during the drive in the city.

Eyewash

Nallur Consumers Welfare Association president N. Shanmugasundaram, who had been crusading against the illegal constructions, termed the sealing of one building and issuing notices on five others as ‘eyewash'.

He said that these actions in bits and pieces were just “aimed at fooling the honest tax-paying public”.

“If the authorities concerned had been really upright all these years, then thousands of edifices would not have come up in the city illegally with many of them standing tall for decades,” he added.

The Hindu      29.12.2010

Court directive on building

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Chennai Corporation to take action to stop usage of a private building even without basic amenities of sewage and drainage connection, resulting in great health hazards to the neighbouring public.

Justice K.N. Basha gave this direction on a petition by T.G. Rajagopalan of T. Nagar against Star City, a private building adjacent to his residence.

According to him, the building was being run as a service apartment without any sewage and drainage connection.

“The building collects the sewage and keeps it in a sump and clears it through a private lorry daily. The process emanates dirty smell and pollutes the entire area,” Mr Rajagopalan said.

He sent complaints to the Corporation. But the Corporation officials instead of taking action against the building merely stated that they had already advised the building owners to get sewage and drainage connection. Hence, he approached the court.

Stating that the conduct of the owners of the building would cause serious health hazards to the public, particularly during the rainy season, Justice Basha said service apartments could not be allowed without basic facilities because the building was situated at a prime location.

“It goes without saying that it is the duty and responsibility of the Chennai Corporation to take all coercive steps and actions in a manner known to law to stop the said menace,” the Judge said.