GUWAHATI, Nov 7 - The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has formed nine special squads to check violations and deviations of building byelaws in the city.
GMC Commissioner Narayan Konwar told reporters here today that the civic body has drawn up a list of 252 high-rises in the city which have been earmarked for verification.
Konwar said that so far two rounds of checking have been undertaken which have covered some of the buildings in the list of 252.
�We are undertaking the exercise based on the 2006 Building Byelaws. So the initial buildings in our list taken up for verification were all built after 2006. They are mostly G plus Four and above in height,� Konwar said.
He said that so far, among the buildings where the special squads have undertaken checking, most of the violations noticed have been regarding deviations from the drawings originally submitted.
He added that GMC and the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) are working together on preparing a draft which will be submitted to the State Government on the issue of amending the byelaws so that one authority is responsible for issuing permissions for both planning and construction.
GMC has also asked people in the city to regularize their property, renew trade licenses, pay property tax on time.
Konwar said that the ongoing drive against illegal extraction of water from municipal pipes by unscrupulous elements have yielded results.
Altogether 70 notices have been issued to people found to have illegally used to pumps to siphon off water from main pipes and two of them have paid fines.
A total of 28 pumps have been seized from Silpukhuri-Chenikuthi locality, 15 from Lachit Nagar, 13 from Ulubari, 14 from Pub-Sarania, 17 from Kumarpara and 13 from Gandhi Basti, among other places, during the ongoing drive.
Konwar said that the drive against illegal extraction of water has been temporarily suspended and will be renewed once the Diwali is over.
Regarding the Smart Cities Mission, Konwar said both online and offline activities, including public consultations, are on and a final proposal from Guwahati will be sent to the Union Urban Development Ministry by December 15, as per the deadline.
�We are trying to ensure that Guwahati finds place in the list selected during the first year itself for roll-out of the Mission,� he said.
