Over 500 building permissions pending with JMC; majority raised in violations

ARVIND SHARMA

JAMMU: More than five hundred files seeking requisite permission for raising buildings of different nature have been lying pending with the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) since long but, strangely, the Corporation is still indecisive on how to act against the constructions which have been raised in violation of norms.

“The building permission cases are pending for varied reasons like for want of NOC from different departments namely Power Development Department (PDD), PHE, Jammu Development Authority (JDA), revenue department etc but in most of the cases the permissions are pending as the applicant has already raised building by violating norms and applied for further permission,” official sources informed The News Now.

“Most of the pending building permission cases are the ones in which people have already raised buildings by violating norms and have applied for further permission like for construction of first floor or second floor, extension of building or changing land use, etc,” they said.

“In such cases, permissions cannot be granted as the construction have already been raised in violation of norms,” Senior Town Planner, JMC, Harinder Arora told The News Now.

He said that in cases where people produce the required NOCs, the permissions are granted but it is mainly in case of violations where further permission is not granted.

He said that there are some other reasons for delay in granting permissions like the required 5 feet open space has not been left by the owner.

Meanwhile, sources said that no concrete action has been taken by the JMC against such illegal constructions in Jammu which raise serious questions as to how these constructions were allowed at first place.

“Very soon we will hold a meeting and decide as to what action could be taken against violations already committed,” the Chief Town Planner said.

Sources said that due to pendency of cases the JMC is losing revenue worth lakhs. For a normal residential building, the JMC charges a fees of Rs 10,000 to 12,000 per building and for commercial building, the fees is even higher.

“Had the violations been checked before construction, the JMC would have earned revenue in lakhs of rupees granting permissions which are pending now,” they said.