Himachal passes bill to regularise illegal constructions across state
Government overlooks suggestions made by Opposition as well as ruling party members
SHIMLA: Overlooking the suggestions made by opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ruling Congress members, the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Saturday passed a bill to regularise unautharised constrictions across the state.
The Town and Country Planning Amendment Bill, 2016 was passed by the assembly, despite the opposition’s demand to refer it to a select committee.
Town and country planning (TCP) minister Sudhir Sharma said the law was being amended to provide relief to everyone and there would be no ‘pick and choose’ policy.
He added that it was not retention policy. The retention policy was brought six times in the state and under the last one, as many as 8,198 applications for regularisation were received and 2,108 constructions regularised. Sharma said the government will do justice to all law- abiders. He said the issue of green area was pending with the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
He also assured the House that buildings with weak bases will not be regularised and applications would be dealt as per serial number basis.
On the opposition’s allegation that the law would benefit builders, he said the policy was for all and no one would be discriminated.
“There were about 13,000 unauthorised buildings in the notified planned and special areas up to March, 2016. The demolition of such a large number of unauthorised constructions is neither feasible nor desirable as it will result in undue hardship to the owners and occupants,” he said.
Dharampur MLA Mahender Singh said there should be different rates on the basis of area falling in municipal corporations, councils and committees. He also suggested amending the relevant clause to bring houses constructed in green houses under the ambit of the amendment.
Mahender Singh also demanded inclusion of the area between Manali and Kullu in the purview of this amendment so that people of the region could be benefitted by the new legislation.
However, the minister cited the court’s stay as a hurdle in doing so. Finding fault in the amended law, Kullu legislator Maheshwar Singh pointed out that a totally unautharised building in a municipal corporation area would be regularised by paying a fee of `1,000 per square meter (sq m) whereas a partially unautharised building will be regularised by paying fee of `800 per sq m. “These rates should be set as per the market rate,” he said. AMENDED LAW WILL BENEFIT BUILDERS: BJP
Shimla legislator and BJP’s chief whip Suresh Bhardwaj said this bill would benefit builders as rates for regularisation are very high.
Bhardwaj said several builders have constructed illegal buildings and sold these out. Now occupants have to pay the fee to get their houses regularised, he said. “The law will cause problem for law-abiders and incentive for violators,” he added.
He said the move would not win votes for the ruling party as only builders would be benefitted.
He said people from merged areas should be given relief as houses were constructed in these areas at a time when there was no regulation.
Nahan legislator Rajiv Bindal said the amended Act was discriminatory. He demanded that fee be charged on the basis of deviation not floor wise.
Bindal also urged the government to delete the term TCP Act, 1977 from a clause relating to merged areas. Congress legislator Anirudh Singh called for a mechanism wherein applications could be dealt as per ‘first come first serve’ basis. He also suggested regularisation of the parking floor, even if converted for other use.