RTI Act unearths illegal construction

[ganpat1956]

RTI Act unearths illegal construction
26 Aug 2007, 0148 hrs IST,TNN

LUDHIANA: Information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has unearthed serious irregularities on the part of senior officials of Ludhiana municipal corporation in allowing illegal construction in the city.

The information provided under RTI to advocate Rajesh Kumar may now land senior officials in major trouble as LMC has admitted that as per records available with it for 2001-07, no building plan was granted permission for construction of commercial building along the roads between Model Town market till Chaar Khamba and Gulati Chowk till Mintghumari Chowk.

But there are around 60 commercial establishments on these two roads and more are coming up.

Interestingly, earlier in March this year in reply to the same application, LMC had even admitted that the drawing branch of the corporation did not have any records pertaining to commercial buildings in this area.

The absence of mandatory records and non-fulfilment of legal formalities have turned these commercial establishments illegal, but LMC has not taken any action to stop such activity.

"If they have declared any area on these two roads road as commercial, then LMC must have complete records of commercial establishments. But since they have admitted that they don’t have the records of even a single building, therefore it is evident that all these constructions are illegal," Rajesh Kumar told TOI.

The applicant had filed an application to procure information under the RTI ACT in September last year, and it took LMC around nine months to deliver the final information.

Dissatisfied with the initial information provided by LMC, the applicant had knocked the doors of the State Information Commission. When contacted, principle secretary of local bodies department DS Bans said he was not in a position to comment on the irregularities without having full details about the matter.

RTI Act unearths illegal construction-Chandigarh-Cities-The Times of India