The fire department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has issued directives to MSEDCL, SNDL and OCW to disconnect power and water supplies of illegal buildings. In many cases, reconnection was done after fire safety equipments were installed. However, no relief was given to illegal buildings like Empress City.
Illegal buildings are bane of Nagpur. Very few builders follow the building plan and NMC does nothing to ensure compliance. TOI talked to noted architect Ashok Mokha to find out a solution.
Excerpts from an interview...
Q. The fire department has issued directives for disconnection of water and power supplies of illegal buildings. Do you think this is justified?
A. It is absolutely inhuman and a knee-jerk reaction, which won’t solve any problem. How can you deprive people of water and power? What is the fault of the occupants? You buy a property presuming that everything is in order. People are not aware of the documents they need to check before buying a property. What was NMC doing when the buildings were being constructed? Why didn’t it paste a notice that the building is illegal? Nobody would have bought flats, shops and offices in such constructions.
I would also like to ask NMC as to how many buildings have occupancy certificates (OCs). Even government buildings don’t have it.
Q. Should action be taken against NMC officials for turning a blind eye to illegal buildings?
A. Absolutely. A committee of experts should be set up and an enquiry should be conducted. All the guilty parties, be it the officers or the builder, should be penalized.
Q. What is the solution to illegal buildings?
A. Demolishing them is not a solution. It will be an injustice to common people. An amnesty scheme should be declared for such buildings. When other departments can declare such schemes, why can’t the NMC. It will also help government generate much needed extra revenue.
Q. How can we prevent illegalities in new constructions?
A. Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has addressed some of the problems but more needs to be done. Government should make OC compulsory for registration of a property. This will discourage builders from violating the building plan. Secondly, a heavy penalty must be imposed on errant builders. The fine should be so high that it outbids the profit earned out of illegal extra constructions. NMC should upload a list of illegal constructions on its website so that buyers don’t purchase property in them.
However, NMC needs to streamline its working too. You need no objection certificate (NOC) from 13 agencies for obtaining an OC. There should be a single window system. Architects, structural engineers and fire consultants should be empowered to issue an interim OC as the process takes months. If anything goes wrong the blame can be pinned on these people.
The builder of Kamala Mills building in Mumbai, which caught fire, is saying that he had applied for OC six years ago but is yet to get it. How can you blame only the builders if they don’t have OCs?
Q. Are you satisfied with the existing building bylaws?
A. They ought to be thrown into a dustbin. They are outdated and not in consonance with needs of today’s society. You can’t build high-rises following them. No architect can design a decent building if they are adhered to.
There should be different bylaws for different zones of NMC. You can’t have the same set of laws for Itwari and an upcoming locality.
Even the transit oriented development (TOD) policy has lot of flaws. You can consume extra floor to space index (FSI) only if you amalgamate plots, which is easier said than done. They are not allowing balconies in the side margins, which is idiotic.
