Illegalities in constructions will be probed

PUNE: Municipal commissioner Sanjay Kumar has initiated a highlevel probe into the 17 controversial permits granted by the civic building department for carrying out constructions on hills.
“I will initiate stringent action against the civic officers if the probe reveals that they have flouted the norms while granting permission,� Kumar told TNN on Tuesday.Kumar said he has directed the civic vigilance department to study each and every paper concerning these 17 cases and submit a detailed report at the earliest.
The stand taken by Kumar assumes significance considering that environmentalist Mohan Dharia and a group of 45 corporators, belonging to the NCP, BJP and the Shiv Sena, had demanded that Kumar initiate action against the civic officers who had granted permission for construction on hills. While Dharia had warned Kumar that he would complain to the state government if no inquiry was initiated, former mayor Vandana Chavan had openly accused Kumar of favouring the builder lobby. “I will not like to comment on these allegations, but everyone knows that these permits were granted before I took over as commissioner.
Now, it needs to be probed whether these permissions were legal or illegal. Unless that is done I cannot randomly take action against the civic officers,� Kumar said. The civic officers have said that they were forced to grant these permits as the civic general body (the corporators) and the state government had de-zoned the hill top/hill slope (HT/HS) zones. Kumar has asked the civic vigilance department to group the 17 cases into three categories.
The first category will include the cases in which permission was wrongly granted. The second, the cases wherein the permission was correct, but the actual work carried out was not as per the norms, while the last category will include the cases in which constructions have been made without seeking permission. Asked if such was the case, why he and the civic officers are being charged for the construction on hills, Kumar said, “I do not know.
The civic administration had taken the lead and formed a committee which recommended various measures to save the hills. We have issued stop-work notices in all doubtful cases. In addition, I had tabled a written say, rejecting the demand by the corporators to convert the HT/HS zones in Bibvewadi into residential zone,� he added.
Meanwhile, mayor Dipti Chaudhari has convened a special general body meeting on Friday to discuss the proposal sanctioned by the city improvement committee (CIC) to regularise the constructions on hills under the Gunthewari Regularisation Act.