DNA: Mumbai: Wednesday,
March 19, 2014.
It seems the
civic body's ambitious plan of ensuring transparency in compliance to building
laws and other guidelines on building constructions in city by putting up
details of approved building plans on the BMC website since 2001 lacks serious
will. At least, according to BMC chief engineer Rajiv Kuknur, the civic body is
not looking at any specific time frame for the completion of the task.
"It is in process. There are some
technical issues. We are not looking at any fixed time frame for this,"
Kuknur told dna.
Kuknur's
reply, however, contradicts Shailesh Gandhi's words.
Gandhi, an
RTI activist and the chairman of technical advisory committee for RTI at the
civic body, said, "Details of some plans, have been uploaded on the BMC
website. The rest should be uploaded in the next two months."
Asked about
the compulsory display of boards at the construction sites, displaying name of
the developer, Kuknur said, "They are taken away by beggars and other
miscreants. There is nobody to monitor that. We can't do much about it,"
he said.
Several
activists in the city, who have long been fighting for transparency in building
proposals and their approvals, expressed shock at Kuknur's words. "How
come other signages stay at place and only the ones at construction sites are
stolen? Such instances bring to light the builder-politician nexus," said
an activist, requesting anonymity. "They won't take risk before the
elections as they won't like to disrupt the money flow that reaches them
through builders. There is a kind of resistance from the civic officials too on
this," said another activist.
Utsal Karani
of Janhit Manch said not putting up such boards are a clear violation of the
Development Control Regulations, which makes it mandatory for a builder to
display the CTS and file numbers at the site. "Without CTS number, we
cannot seek information under RTI," he said, adding, "I don't think
uploading of the proposals will take place even after the elections. All the
FSI frauds, illegalities and violations of building bye-laws, will be out in
the open," he said.
The step, if
implemented, would have ensured that property buyers make an informed choice,
while buying a property. They, otherwise, have no means to know if the
property, they are investing on, is legal. The system was first introduced in
2009 by the then municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak.
As per the
system, all building plans would be submitted on a disc and permissions and
concessions will be granted online. The plans, which have been approved, then
supposed to be displayed on the BMC's website.
Nitin
Killawala, an architect, said the BMC authorities have started putting up
concession reports online. "The sooner they do it, the better," he
said. PK Das, another architect, said, "It is pointless to approach
individual authorities for a CD, for information on a particular proposal. The
public should have access to such information and it should be put up on the
site," he said.
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