AP News Tougher Building Regulations To Come Into Force In Greater Hyderabad
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| Tougher Building Regulations To Come Into Force In Greater Hyderabad |
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A builder or house owner converting a residential building to
commercial one without approval of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal
Corporation (GHMC) may have to cough up 10 per cent of the value of the
building, including land cost fixed by the government, as fine. This is
just among a string of measures suggested by the municipal
administration and urban development department (MA&UD) to check
flouting of building norms. If any high-rise building is constructed contrary to the provisions of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) Act, 1955, or building by-laws, the builder may have to pay a whopping 600 per cent of the value of the land for the extent violated, floor area fixed by the registration department. As of now, there is no provision to slap penalties on high-rise buildings in the Act. Likewise, non high-rises attract a 400 per cent penalty. The MA&UD has suggested amendments to schedule ‘U’ of the HMC Act, which is likely to come into force as soon as government clears it. The state government appointed a seven-member committee with former municipal administration director M Prasada Rao as chairman in February, 2006, on the directions of the high court to suggest recommendations for amendments to be made to the HMC Act. The committee submitted its report to the municipal administration department in May last. Based on the recommendations and suggestions, the amendments could be brought in either through an ordinance or a bill soon. The committee suggested exemplary fines on high-rise buildings, slapping fines up to 600 per cent of the land value, while for non-high rise buildings, if the deviations are above 10 per cent, they attract penal action. The amendments suggest making provisions in section 452 to collect five per cent of the land value from the builder every day if he fails to comply with setback norms in respect of nonhigh rise buildings and increasing the penal amount as the quantum of fine is very low, Rs 5. “For some offences like dumping building material on road, the corporation can collect only Rs 5 daily from the house owner or builder. The fine was fixed a few decades ago. Now, the fine would be hiked to Rs 200,’’ a senior town planning officer told STOI. In the wake of directions from the high court, the MA&UD has proposed to levy a fine of Rs 10,000 if builders fails to provide additional staircase for a safe exit in the event of a fire mishap. As of now, the fine is a paltry Rs 100 for violation of this norm. With citizens not taking occupancy certificate (OC) from the GHMC, which is mandatory, it has also suggested a provision to collect a penalty of Rs 100 every day from the builders. Greater Hyderabad officials are gearing up to set their house in order before implementing the new set of rules.
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