The Hindu 28.12.2011
Site, building plan approvals trouble added area residents
Civic body urged to address the issue
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.