The graffiti is not only to protest against corporation, but also to help tenants.
Chennai Corparation one of the heritage buildings that will be decked with lights ahead of the Global Investors Meet (Photo: DC)
Chennai: In a major embarrassment to Chennai Corporation, a civic welfare association in Central Chennai has started a graffiti campaign exposing the failure of corporation engineers to curb illegal buildings.
The association president T. Solomon who has filed several petitions in the high court and Supreme Court seeking action against illegal buildings said, “Despite the court pulling up the CMDA and Chennai Corporation, engineers and local ward councillors continue to encourage illegal structures and to expose this, a graffiti campaign has been started”.
In most of the cases, the buildings are locked and sealed under the Town planning act only to be regularised later by CMDA authorities. In some cases, the seal is removed allowing the occupants to reside and there is no further action by the field engineers.
There are illegal buildings in ward 58 and ward 103, where tenants now occupy sealed buildings, he said adding that a contempt petition would soon be filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against mushrooming illegal buildings and corporation engineers for their failure to enforce the law.
The graffiti is not only to protest against corporation, but also to help tenants and flat owners about the illegal buildings that are available for sale and for rent.
“Public often like to buy a new flat or show interest in renting a new property, but they should check whether the construction is an authorised building or not,” said K. Moorthy, a real estate promoter. Particularly, residents should be more cautious in areas such as T Nagar, Purasawalkam and Sowcarpet due to more illegal structures, he said.
Despite Madras high court passing orders against illegal buildings, Chennai city continues to witness unauthorised structures and even on Wednesday, a six storeyed building was locked and sealed in Central Chennai following a court order, but there is no enforcement of town planning rules by the field engineers,” admitted a senior official pointing out that there is intervention by local councillors whenever an objection is raised against a new construction. However, when asked what stopped the engineers from demolishing or serving notices at the construction stage, the official had no answer, except saying bureaucracy.
TN to bring in 75,000 EVMs from north
The Election Commission of India has accorded sanction to Tamil Nadu election department to being in 75,000 electronic voting machines from northern states.
The department would start bringing EVMs from Bihar, Maharashtra and Gujarat and about 50,000 machines will come from Bihar, a senior election department official said. Another 25,000 machines including 15,000 from Maharashtra will reach before Pongal for the first level of checking. The state has a sanctioned strength to utilise 83,000 EVM machines including 20 per cent reserve. About 8,500 EVMS are already available in Tamil Nadu and engineers from BHEL would start examining the machines after Pongal, the official said.
When asked about the scheduled visit of top officials from ECI, the official said the team is likely to visit TN after Pongal. The top brass will also review the number of polling stations and take stock on the poll arrangements in place and will decide on the election schedule, the official said.
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
Next Story
