Development authorities to ensure real time monitoring of illegal construction
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 2 Sep: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today directed all the development authorities functioning under the Housing Department to expedite pending master plans and development projects and ensure that a definite time-frame is fixed for every work. Reviewing the functioning of the development authorities at a meeting held at the Chief Minister’s residence here today, Dhami made it clear that unnecessary delays in development works would not be tolerated under any circumstances.
The CM directed the officials to undertake a comprehensive review of all the master plans and other projects that have been pending for a long time and fix deadlines for their completion. He stressed that responsibility and accountability of the concerned officers must be clearly defined for every project. Plans, he said, should not remain confined to official files and their impact should be visible on the ground.
Giving priority to beautification of urban areas, Dhami directed that large-scale beautification works should be initiated in the areas falling under all development authorities during the current month and completed by 15 October. He said the quality and appearance of the works should be attractive and effective on the lines of the beautification carried out during the G20 Summit. The CM said that if additional budget is required for any work, necessary arrangements should be made, but shortage of funds would not be accepted as a reason or excuse for delaying development works.
Dhami also directed the officials to improve the condition of roads falling under the jurisdiction of development authorities. He ordered a survey of all such roads to assess their condition and instructed that repair and improvement works be undertaken on priority wherever required. He set a deadline of 15 days for bringing all roads under the development authorities into better condition and directed regular monitoring of the quality of the road repair works. He made it clear that negligence in this regard would not be tolerated.
The CM also reviewed the progress of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and directed the officials to prepare detailed lists of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and BPL families in all districts who have so far benefited from the scheme. He ordered that the lists be submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office within 15 days. He said the actual benefits of housing schemes must reach eligible families and their implementation should be reviewed regularly.
Dhami directed that the city parks be developed mandatorily in all the cities and said that every city park should have both conventional toilets and pink toilets. He also directed that pink toilets be developed as required in urban, semi-urban and rural areas. Officials were instructed to achieve around 70 percent of this target before the next review meeting. He stressed that while developing public facilities, the requirements of women, children, senior citizens and persons with disabilities should receive special attention.
The CM also directed officials to make the online building map approval system more effective and integrate it with all district-level development authorities. He said the process of approval of building maps should be transparent, simple and time-bound so that citizens do not have to make unnecessary visits to government offices and the entire process can be made easier through digital means.
Taking a strict view of illegal construction, Dhami directed officials not to wait until construction was completed before taking action. Instead, he called for the use of modern technology to identify illegal construction at the initial stage itself. He directed officials to develop a monitoring system based on GIS, satellite imagery and drones so that suspicious construction could be detected in time. The Chief Minister made it clear that if any official was found to be involved in or colluding in cases of illegal construction, strict action would be taken against the person concerned.
Dhami directed every development authority to establish an Illegal Construction Monitoring Dashboard. He said the dashboard should provide real-time information on every stage of action, beginning with identification of suspicious construction and including the date of inspection, notices issued, sealing and demolition proceedings. Such a system, he said, would ensure greater transparency and accountability in action against illegal construction.
Taking serious note of the parking problem in the Dehradun and Haridwar regions, Dhami directed the officials to identify municipalities where adequate parking facilities are not available. He asked the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) and Haridwar-Roorkee Development Authority (HRDA) to coordinate with the Urban Local Bodies and prepare concrete action plans for developing multi-level parking, surface parking and peripheral parking facilities, besides exploring the public-private partnership (PPP) model. He said the parking problem required a permanent solution in view of increasing urbanisation and that future requirements should be kept in mind while preparing the plans.
Dhami also reviewed the progress of residential projects in every district and sought clear details regarding the stage of each project, the number of houses completed so far and the number of houses under construction. He directed regular monitoring of residential projects and said that wherever the pace of work was slow, necessary action should be taken to expedite it.
The CM also issued important directions regarding the Land Pooling Scheme. He asked the officials to prepare an action plan for implementing the scheme as a pilot project in at least two to three development areas. A clear and transparent model should be prepared explaining the benefits that farmers and landowners would receive under the scheme, he said, adding that landowners should be provided complete information about the proposal. He stressed that their interests and future benefits must be clearly protected in development plans.
Dhami said the role of development authorities should not remain confined to cities. Special attention should also be given to developing civic amenities in rural and semi-urban areas falling within the jurisdiction of development authorities. He directed officials to coordinate with local bodies and gram panchayats for developing essential facilities such as street lighting, drinking water and seating arrangements. Development, he said, should not remain limited to major cities and residents of rural and semi-urban areas within development authority limits should also receive better basic amenities.
Dhami directed the officials to ensure maximum use of technology, transparency and accountability in the functioning of development authorities. He said providing better facilities to citizens was a priority of the government and this required simplification of procedures, effective control over illegal construction, time-bound implementation of projects and strengthening of technology-based monitoring systems.
Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Secretaries Vinay Shankar Pandey and Dr R Rajesh Kumar, vice-chairpersons of all development authorities and other related officials were present at the meeting.
