Residents living in old buildings of the city, who cannot locate or get hold of their approved building plans, or they have not been provided by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) when sought, can soon look to having them.
In a landmark order, state chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad has directed the municipal commissioner to reconstruct building plans of all old buildings in city that are destroyed. The order dated January 21 was given after an application from Jitendra Pandey, a resident of Chira Bazaar.
Pandey in his application had sought information of a building on a plot in the area. He had sought building plans for the year 1990, 1995 and 2015. The public information officer (PIO) did not provide him satisfactory information. When the applicant filed first appeal, he was told that the PIO had given satisfactory information.
During the second appeal, PIO stated that after the initial plan of 1976, the plan after changes were made were not available. The commission observed that such an information should have been available with the office of the public information officer and the reasons given by PIO seemed to be those where in he is trying to delay in providing information.
The order went on to state that provision of Maharashtra Records Act, 2005 provide for strict action if records are misplaced. These include fine of Rs10,000 or jail term of five years or both.
Noting that many times citizens have to go through several "hardships" wherein they do not get hold of the approved building plans of old buildings, the order directs the municipal commissioner to prepare building plans of all the old buildings that are lost or not available. After preparing the plans, "fresh approvals" are to be given on those plans before giving the plans to applicants.
"In most of south Mumbai, contractor, Mhada and BMC are misguiding people. In the name of repairing, they add two to three floors and then put a new plan in the building. The architects are ensuring that it is passed and they get that approved without the government getting any benefit from it. In south Mumbai, this is rampantly happening. I got to know when there was an illegal toilet constructed in the building," said Pandey.
But what if during preparing new plans, illegal constructions are added, Gaikwad was not available for comment.
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