All high-rises will be inspected for building bylaw violation: CM

 Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said all high-rise buildings in Bengaluru would be inspected for building bylaw violations. Stringent action, including against officials, would be initiated if any violation is found.

Replying to questions by Ramesh Kumar K R (Congress) in the Legislative Assembly, he said buildings taller than 15 metres were considered as high-rises.

Denying any nexus between the government and builders, which may have resulted in building law violation, he said an officer would visit all the buildings for inspection.

He said builders should obtain no-objection certificates from the following nine departments before constructing a residential complex in the BBMP limits: The Fire Department, State Pollution Control Board, Civil Aviation Authority, BWSSB, Bescom, BSNL, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Jakkur Flying Club (if applicable) and BMRCL (if applicable).

To a question how many housing complexes had come up in the City in the last five years, the chief minister said that between 2009-10 and till the present date, as many as 97 complexes had been allowed with the permission of the BBMP.

The BDA, post-2009-10, has permitted nine multistorey buildings. No building was allowed after that, he said.

Permission mandatory
To Ramesh Kumar’s query whether any structure had come up in violation of the rules, Siddaramaiah replied in the negative. To another question of the member, the chief minister said permission from the Town Planning Authority was mandatory for constructing complexes.

Not satisfied with the reply, BJP MLA C T Ravi asked, “At least 9,000 complexes have been constructed and the government is saying just 97 have been allowed. This also means there is a large-scale violation.”

His party colleague Ravi Subramanya said bogus NoCs were evident with 500 illegal structures being identified in the City.

Ramesh Kumar said issuance of occupancy certificate was a business deal between officials and builders. A big mafia is working and powerful people are exploiting the situation. Cases of violation in building norms is common. If there are many cases of violation, then why the government should go ahead with regularisation of illegal structures (Akrama-Sakrama), he asked. Siddaramaiah said the members should not get confused with multistorey buildings and high-rise buildings. He admitted that it was the powerful individuals and not the poor who violated laws. Such people also corrupt the politicians and bureaucrats, he pointed out.