Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Action against building rule violations demanded

COIMBATORE: An end to unauthorised constructions and discrimination in the allocation of funds for development works were some of the major demands made at the Coimbatore Corporation Council meeting on Friday.

Leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the Council P. Rajkumar pointed out that the city was witnessing a ‘vertical’ growth in the form of multi-storeyed buildings – both commercial and residential.

But, many commercial buildings, including shopping complexes, had not allocated parking space for vehicles. This resulted in visitors parking their cars and two-wheelers along main roads. Even the owners of the shops parked their vehicles along roads.

Mr. Rajkumar drew the attention of Mayor R. Venkatachalam and officials to the observation made by City Police Commissioner K.C. Mahali at a recent meeting in the city that lack of parking space in buildings and the resultant parking on roads was one of the major reasons for accidents. The councillor said shrinking space for movement of vehicles led to accidents.

A year ago, a court order led to the demolition of a few unauthorised structures, but the action was not sustained, the councillor said.

He blamed the malady on the delay in approving building plans. The plans shuttled between the Corporation and the Local Planning Authority’s offices, without any clear reason being given to the applicants.

The delay, in turn, gave room for corruption. To avoid this, many people constructed buildings without getting the necessary approval, Mr. Rajkumar said.

He suggested a joint committee of the Corporation and the planning authority and a single window system for process and approval of plans. This would help eliminate procedural delay and violation, he said.

Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra said the parking problems would be discussed with the Police Commissioner for suitable action.

A section of the councillors alleged discrimination in the allocation of funds for development works. Influential members were able to get more works done in their wards, Communist Party of India (Marxist) councillor N.V. Murugesan alleged. AIADMK member R. Prabhakaran joined him in alleging discrimination.

Earlier, Mr. Rajkumar also wanted to know whether development works were meant for only the wards of councillors who parties were allies of the Congress to which the Mayor belonged. Even as the Mayor rejected the charge, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members argued that more works were carried out in the wards of AIADMK councillors.

CPI (M) member and Corporation North Zone Chairman C. Padmanabhan was upset that works worth Rs.52 crore had not taken off. These works were announced in the budget, but had not taken off because the estimates had not been revised. Mr. Padmanabhan and Mr. Rajkumar, who belong to wards in North Zone, alleged poor maintenance of streetlights.

From once a week, the maintenance now was once in 15 days. Many areas were dark and unsafe at night because of malfunctioning of lights, Mr. Rajkumar said.

Leader of the Opposition V.N. Udayakumar felt that the drive against plastic bags had lost steam and regretted that that the electric crematorium project for Nanjundapuram had not taken off. Congress Floor Leader R.S. Thirumugham demanded the constitution of a special team to carry out patchworks to close life-threatening potholes on the city roads.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu