Prajavani To Deal With Illegal Constructions

The Prajavani (People's Voice) program was launched by the GHMC in February this year, and the GHMC claims that this civic administrative initiative has been efficiently dealing with people's problems.

The program is conducted every Monday, from 10am to 1pm in the morning, providing a platform for people to bring forth their grievances to the attention of the officials. GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu said that the officials are trying their best to solve the issues which are brought to their attention by the citizens.

As per the provisions of the Prajavani program, citizens are requested to come forward with grievances pertaining to facilities (or lack of them), unauthorized constructions, property tax, trade license, encroachments and similar problems. Prajavani is held at three levels - the Circle level, the Zonal level, as well as at the level of the head office of the GHMC.

However, it turns out that the program is not as effective as its creators had envisioned. For once, it cannot deal with issues pertaining to illegal constructions and encroachments, since these issues can only be resolved by the intervention of courts.

GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu said that long pending cases pertaining to colonies, and various civic-related issues, can be taken up in Prajavani, but that they cannot be resolved in a week or so, as they are time-bound issues which have to be placed before the Municipal Standing Counsel for the counsel to examine the cases as well.

The Commissioner said that before conducting the Prajavani every Monday, a review meeting is organized every Saturday with regards to sorting out the pending issues and grievances, and to settle the same in a positive way as per the rules.

Responding to a question raised by the media, the Commissioner said that it is a fact that a lot of illegal constructions are being undertaken, especially in slums, what with the absence of proper authorization documents that will enable officials to grant permissions for the construction of buildings. Also, officials cannot accord sanctions, being restrained by the provisions of the HMC Act. The Commissioner says that all this has led to slum dwellers constructing buildings unauthorisedly.

The Commissioner said that a lot of complaints are being received with regard to the construction of additional floors in buildings, for which the occupancy certificates have already been obtained. He also said that the matter is being dealt with, very seriously, and that, if any such buildings are found, their extra (illegal) floors will be demolished as per the rules.

M T Krishna Babu appealed to citizens to avail themselves of the opportunity to get their pending BPS and LRS applications settled on or before May 31, 2013. Applicants can pay the remaining penal amount through DD by the May 31, 2013, and documents (if any need to be furnished) can be submitted before June 15, 2013. (INN)