16/01/2015
Even as realtors under the banner of National Builders' Association (NBA) have welcomed the government's approval of building bylaws, they have expressed reservation about certain provisions such as availability of 40-feet wide road in the city for the construction of apartments of 24 metres height.
The government should find out if roads with the width prescribed in the bylaws exist in the city and other districts. "There are very few roads as wide as 40 feet in the city, let alone in districts. So very few people will be able to fulfil their dream of owning a flat if government sticks to this norm," said NBA chairman Anil Kumar while addressing a press conference on Wednesday. He also demanded some concessions in this regard in the districts.
Besides demanding provision for a G+6 structure before a 30-feet wide road instead of only a G+5 building, the NBA has also demanded immediate constitution of the proposed committee to review the new bylaws, so that they could propose some amendments. With respect to government's announcement for a single window system for the approval of new building plans, the NBA has demanded more information about this system. "Much more needs to be stated about this single window system," said NBA vice-president S B Sinha, adding things should be more transparent. If any plan is rejected by the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), then reasons for the rejection should be given within a fixed period, he said.
The NBA also said that government officials should also be made responsible for conforming with any building plan, so that if any violation in construction is found, both developers and the official are held accountable. Rajiv Anand, secretary of the association, also stated that once a plan is approved and construction done according to it, the building should not be declared illegal as a lot of resources and labour go in vain.
As per the realtors, there is a ban on around 1,700 constructions in the state capital. In case of most of them, the ban is not justified. "Following some blacklisted architects, the government put a ban on all the plans approved by them without even reviewing if there was any violation in the plan or not. Many of them were only in foundation phase, but assuming that there might be some violation in the later stage, the ban was imposed," said S B Sinha.
They also said developers should be registered with the government, so that they could be made answerable. A mechanism should be devised to prosecute those violating the norms. "The government should also initiate a move to blacklist the builders who violate the norms, so that buyers do not fall a prey to their false promises," said NBA chairman Kumar.
