30,000 unauthorised bldgs get PCMC official stamp

In a welcome move, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has agreed to regularise nearly 30,000 illegal constructions built before March 2012 after charging a fine for minor violations of building permission norms. PCMC commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi made the announcement on Tuesday.

Pardeshi said, “PCMC general body had approved a resolution in 1997 that the commissioner be given powers to regularise structures with minor violations such as 10% side margin used or violation of 0.1 floor space index (FSI).”

The building permission department officer Vasant Kachi said, “PCMC worked out the structure of fine, and it will be approximately Rs500 per sq ft. The details have been uploaded on the PCMC website.”

Pardeshi said that MLAs supported by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and mayor Mohini Lande had recently requested the civic administration to at least excuse those illegal constructions that were given building permission and had built with minor violations. Accordingly, PCMC found an alternative.

Regarding the steep fine decided by PCMC, Pardeshi said that it will act as a deterrent to check further unauthorised constructions in future.

“The civic administration has put up the list of reserved plots, permission given for authorised constructions, list of unauthorised constructions as well as building permission norms for 200 sq ft to 2,500 sq ft area on its website, as it does not want the common man to be cheated while purchasing new or resale property in the twin township,” he said.

The civic chief said that the name of developers and architects whose buildings were demolished or FIR registered against them were also uploaded on the website. The data can also be obtained from ward offices and facilitation centres by paying Rs5. Pardeshi said that PCMC is also working on simplifying the building permission norms and looking at the suggestions given by builders and architects.