The Anti-Corruption Bureau Vizianagram wing on Thursday recommended stern action against the officials of the Town Planning department who reportedly allowed construction of a function hall in 1,355 square metres of land without any plan approval. The function hall on Ring Road was allowed to violate rules on the pretext of a court case over the piece of land, an ACB report said.
As part of State-wide surprise checks, ACB teams began inspections in the town on Tuesday which continued till Thursday morning.
In this case related to ‘Lee Paradise Function Hall’, the ACB team also found fault with the Endowments Department for not going for an appeal after losing a court case with the function hall owners. Getting permissions from the municipal authorities for the construction of a building was a must and court cases could not be shown as an excuse to ignore plan approval norms, the report said.
ACB circle inspectors M. Maheswara Rao and Satish Kumar recommended to the Secretary of Municipal Administration and Urban Development to initiate action on Town Planning officials K. Madhusudana Rao, Venkateswara Rao and others who reportedly ignored violations and failed to take action on the management of the function hall.
According to ACB officials, a person named Srinivas Gupta had obtained permission for two floors but constructed another two floors on the Vizianagaram-Srikakulam road.
BPS pleas rejected
The ACB report further said that many applications submitted under the Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) were rejected without any valid reason although the scheme was introduced to generate more income for the municipal bodies and provide relief to property owners.
The Vizianagaram Municipal Corporation had failed to display a Citizens’ Charter explaining the rules and regulations and the stipulated time-frame for each work. Many buildings had come up with violations as Town Planning officials had issued permissions without any field visit. Some officials of the department had given building plan permissions after they were transferred to other places, the ACB report said.
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