CMDA to constitute team to monitor unauthorised buildings

Concerned by the growing violations of buildings, CMDA is planning to constitute a team to keep a vigil on the unauthorised buildings within the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA). 

Sources in the CMDA (Enforcement Wing) said that the building was constructed at in Venkateshwara Nagar in Neelankarai. The owner of the building had not obtained planning approval, which is mandatory. Even after the officials sent caution notices like lock and seal and de-occupation, there was no any response from the owner. 

“This prompted us to swing into the action. We locked and sealed the stilt and three floors building. We came to know that owner had constructed the structure to be used as a ‘mansion’. We also found the building had 12 rooms, while a residential portion was in the ground floor,” the official said. Now, the agency has sealed the entire building to avoid owners using it anymore, said official sources. 

None of the rooms in the building were occupied, while the officials forcefully evacuated the owner’s family from there. 

When contacted, a senior official of CMDA, on requesting anonymity, said, “The CMDA will prepare list of unapproved buildings constructed in the CMA and intensify monitoring system on the buildings that flouted norms. Moreover, CMDA’s Enforcement Wing will continuously be pressed into keeping vigilance on unauthorised buildings,” the official said. 

The CMDA has been under constant attack from the public and pressure from the courts for the mushrooming of unauthorised structures in the city. The issue has structural safety and urban planning ramifications, especially in congested areas like T Nagar and Sowcarpet where many of the illegal structures were found to lack even basic fire safety measures. 

Forming the monitoring team is yet another effort that the CMDA has taken to address the illegal building menace, though activists pointed out that even the High Court-appointed monitoring committee had limited success in this regard.