OTS needed for 40,000 dwelling units facing demolition threat from CHB
90% of 40,000 dwelling units facing threat of demoltion for violations over a period of 40 years
Need, Greed, design to Fleece and noble way out the mess
Recently, Chandigarh Housing Board has organised a workshop to make the empanelled architects and the empanelled structural engineers aware procedural aspects of the various clauses of the need-based changes order, issued on February 15 and penalty scheme introduced on July 15.
The first allotments by the Chandigarh Housing Board were made in late seventies. LIG-downwards houses, not in hundreds, but in thousands were allotted by the Housing Board, blatantly flouting building bylaws in case of the standard size of rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and water closets. In EWS houses, allotted to the poorest of the poor, even kitchens were not provided.
In fact need base start from EWS houses as there were no provision of kitchens and LIG first floor houses were provided bathrooms on the top floor. One can easily imagine the plight of the residents if one has to use toilet at night he has to go up-stairs as such in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the first violator of building bylaws is the Chandigarh Housing Board itself.
Nirmal Dutt, Chairman of The CHB Residents’ Welfare Federation stated that “our Federation started the campaign for the regularization of additional construction in 1992. Even by this date, unchecked and unguided construction, made possible by the bought connivance of the supervisory CHB Staff, was coming up at a very large scale. This trend in the behavior of the CHB Staff stands out prominently when compared with the extremely vigilant supervision of the Estate Office supervisory staff who never let any illegal construction happens. Can any Court of law take cognizance of the fact that an agency, which, according to its own survey, records 90% violation in its dwelling units over a period of 40 years, is itself guilty of connivance in a wrong doing? And by the time the Administration started issuing notifications to give relaxations, already two major problems had taken root: More than allowable covered space within plot area, and Encroachment on small patches of public land. At present, even after the latest notification, more than 40,000 households are trapped in these two problems.”
The latest notification gives the following relaxations:
Balconies, where there were none earlier, are permitted;
Projection over doors and windows is permitted;
Additional windows are permitted;
Lowering of window-sills is permitted;
Additional construction of 150 sq. ft. is permitted within age-old bylaws;
Removal of certain non-load-bearing inner walls is permitted;
Provision of grills and glazing is permissible;
A Cut-out in the top-roof slab for maintaining certain facilities on the common roof is allowed;
Widening of gates is allowed;
Plastering of outer walls is allowed;
Car sheds are allowed;
Coverage of balconies with light-weight material is allowed;
Construction of additional doors is allowed;
In some cases new gates are allowed;
Lifts are allowed;
Coverage of void in HIG Category is allowed;
All this is allowed with strict adherence to bylaws and by paying hefty fines in case of old construction.
All notifications failed to address the two above-named major problems: More than allowable covered space within plot area, and Encroachment on small patches of public land.
Jatinder Bhatia former President of the Federation said “Chandigarh Housing Board never bothered when such violations were taking place and rather acted as silent spectator for the reasons best known to CHB or design to fleece. By the time CHB started issuing notices, it was too late. He alleged that CHB is solely responsible for all this mess”
Harjinder Kaur Ex-Mayor MC Chandigarh said “A need-based committee formed before the latest notification, including the Architect Office Representatives, recommended additional covered space of 150 sq. ft. without adherence to bylaws, but the same Architect Office, in the final notification, again made adherence to bylaws mandatory, and thus undid its own recommendation in the need-based committee. More than three lakh people demand one-time-settlement: charge Rs.200/- per sq. ft. for all covered space within plot area, and charge current collector rates from those 20,000 people who, in the absence of the utilities like a kitchen, used small patches of public land. In a special meeting of the need-based committee, convened in the Board Chairman’s Office and chaired by the Chairman himself, the esteemed incumbent Chairman agreed to charge collector rates for the small encroachments, but since this concession entailed the sanction of 100% coverage within the plot area, this move was dropped”.
Prem Kaushik strongly advocates one time settlement at par with Delhi where it has already been implemented.“If such a scheme can be implemented in Delhi than why not in Chandigarh”?
In its latest representation, the Federation insists that the one-time-settlement spelled above is possible if it is attached to the idea of Consensual Redevelopment of the Congested areas of the CHB Belt in near future.
According to this plea, it is stressed that, again and again, the final relief to the CHB Residents fails to materialize because of two impediments:
The bylaws;
The National Building Code.
The architect office very rightly, by referring to mass violation of bylaws and national building code, blocks all efforts at final relief.
Nirman Dutt further said this mass violation is the bitter ground reality. But the Federation suggests that this mass violation can be undone, finally, by providing One-Time-Settlement to the People till the inevitable Redevelopment of the Congested Areas of the CHB Belt.
This solution has ten benefits:
1.The lakhs of people will have a sigh of relief by making one-time payments and then waiting peacefully till they get new flats after redevelopment;
2.The Administration will be immediately free from the taxing effort of taking punitive measures and will fill its coffers with the one-time payments made by the thankful residents;
3.When redevelopment starts there will be profitable work for so many realtors;
4.There will be years of work for lakhs of daily-wage earners;
5.The people will move into newly-constructed quake-resistant houses without paying a penny;
6.Parking problem will be permanently solved because of available large basement area;
7.Lakhs of new middle-class buyers will get a chance to buy flats in the CHB Belt of Chandigarh;
8.The officers who accept and implement this idea will be known as visionaries with wonderful foresight;
9.The leader(MP) who gets this idea approved will be remembered as a stand-out pioneering Staesman in a world where people hardly care to remember former MP’s;
10.All bylaws and National Building Code will reoccupy their sanctified space.
I met Tilak Sharma a resident of sector-47 said main culprit in this episode is Chandigarh Housing Board. Why they allow violations? He compared the CHB with Estate Office who have active supervisory staff and never allowed violations. He said whatever the violators have done is seen but CHB allowed it to happen behind the mirror.
He concluded with a shayar of Saleem Kausar "sarē-āīnā mērā akas hai, pasē-āīnā kōī aur hai”
October 11, 2019
-
-
Kulbhushan Kanwar, Chandigarh Correspondent , Babushahi.com
kulbhushankanwar@gmail.com
Phone No. : +91-9815935035
Disclaimer : The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the writer/author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Babushahi.com or Tirchhi Nazar Media. Babushahi.com or Tirchhi Nazar Media does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.