BPS applications cleared in snail’s pace

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  22 Sep 2019 12:47 PM GMT
BPS applications cleared in snail’s pace

Amaravati: Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) needs more accelerated process in all municipalities and municipal corporations in three districts — Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. The districts and their municipal corporation come under the Visakhapatnam region, and there are two, four, and five municipal towns in Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam respectively.

BPS is meant to regularise permissions for individual and commercial buildings by collecting penalty from its owners for violation of and deviation from town and country planning norms, and construction of buildings without permission. Only 17,673 applications have been filed BPS in three corporations and 11 municipalities. Out of these, 2,645 applications have been cleared by the Regional Deputy Director’s (RDD) office for the town and country planning. “The remaining 15,028 applications will be gradually cleared after due verification,” explained K Jayaram, Regional Deputy Director of Town and Country Planning, Visakhapatnam.

BPS was implemented for the first time in 1997 to regularise buildings by clearing violations, and the government introduced it again in 2008, 2015 and 2019. Violations, deviations and unauthorised constructions have gradually reduced in number in all municipal cities and towns after its implementation in the last five years. It is also thanks to the government imposing a condition on building owners to mortgage ten percent of the building area with the concerned town and country planning to mitigate violations. If anyone violates the rules, he will not get permission for water and power connection, and the owner won’t be able to sell it to others.

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