Ahmedabad: At the end of a three- month survey, the urban development department of Gujarat has stated that as many as 35% of building structures in the state are built illegally because they do not have building-use (BU) permissions.
For this survey the sample size consisted of 8,320 buildings including residential, commercial, high-rises, and special category buildings such as hospitals – along many municipal corporations and nagarpalikas (municipalities).
Why Buildings Are Illegal In Gujarat?
Some of the reasons behind the buildings not getting the BU permission are the addition of extra floors, the change of the nature of use of buildings, and jurisdictional problems.
It would lead to huge demolitions if penalties were charged on these buildings. To cope with this, the urban development department has given its recommendation to the state government that an ordinance with certain “conditions” be brought out for property owners which will help in handling this legal hurdle.
“The suggestion will be submitted to the high court before the department officially pursues it. The goal is minimum damage,” stated a senior official in the urban development department in an interview.
The Survey Which Brought Out The Truth
The survey began this year in January and 1,050 buildings and under this project, 1,000 buildings in Surat, 750 buildings in Rajkot, and 800 buildings in Vadodara were surveyed for BU permissions. Some crucial factors that were studied include the zone in which a property was located, the width of the road in front of the property, whether the land belongs to private individuals or has been allotted by the state, and the status of fire-safety compliance. Factors such as whether there is a change of nature of use of a building, whether the building has become a health hazard, and the status of civic utilities were also studied.
In Ahmedabad 1,050 buildings were surveyed out of which 32% did not have BU permission. All in all, a total of 2,160 buildings were surveyed within nagarpalika( municipality) limits, 5,600 within the eight municipal corporations, and about 560 under the urban development authority limits.
“There were instances where AUDA in Ahmedabad was charging unauthorized development fee but was not giving BU permissions. Several of these buildings now have extra floors for which there is no BU nod,” said a senior AMC official. There is also the problem of the proper implementation of the provisions of a central law, the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010.
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