Illegal constructions go unabated in municipalities

Hyderabad: Despite adoption of new technology, the number of illegal constructions in municipalities doesn't seem to abate. According to officials, unauthorised constructions are going on purportedly with gram panchayat approvals even as TSbPASS came into force in November this year. How this is happening? is the question that is troubling the officials of the Municipal Administration department.

Irked by this, the government has formed task force committees at district level and asked the additional collectors to initiate action against all illegal constructions. It remains to be seen whether the committees gather data on the total number of illegal constructions or not.

At present to check the illegal constructions, the department is on a demolition spree in municipalities. So far, the authorities have demolished over 900 illegal constructions in 141 municipalities.

The Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration has directed that no new construction would be permitted if it is more than G+2 based on gram panchayat approvals. They will also have to apply afresh under TSbPASS and revised fee should be collected.

The CDMA issued a circular to officials to inspect all ongoing constructions and verify whether they have valid permissions or not and demolish illegal constructions.

However, locals allege that such constructions were taking place right under the nose of officials. No measures are being taken to stop them early. In fact, no action is initiated unless someone makes online or offline complaint on TSbPASS portal, by Twitter or mail, they said.