GUWAHATI, Sept 16 � The procedure of according building permission by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is allegedly not transparent. The civic body is allegedly trying to conceal the information on the building permissions it is granting to parties, going against the democratic norms.
It is alleged by several quarters that the civic body is granting building permissions to parties without trying to assess the impacts of such structures in the localities in which they are proposed to be built. There is no attempt at assessing the impacts of such structures on the groundwater table, drains, garbage disposal system, traffic load on the roads, etc, of the localities concerned.
Moreover, the impact of such structures on the old and low-cost structures in their neighbourhood has never been sought to be assessed by the civic body, which is violative of the democratic rights of the dwellers of the old structures, alleged the above quarters.
These factors have assumed significance in view of the large-scale transfer of land in the city localities in favour of a section of moneyed but non-indigenous people. Even structures which should have been treated as heritage structures because of their inalienable connection with the Mahatma and the freedom struggle of the country, have also been demolished by these moneyed people, who have least concern for the State�s heritage, with the civic body turning a blind eye to all such developments, alleged the above quarters.
Such developments have been posing serious threats to the residents of several old localities of the city. These residents demand that the civic body and the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), for that matter, should make the permissions open and in the process of granting permission residents of the localities concerned should be involved.
