Task force to crack whip on illegal layouts in Telangana
Hyderabad: Barring a few, almost all the districts in the State have constituted District Task Forces (DTFs) to clear unauthorised structures in their respective areas following the implementation of Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self-Certification (TS-bPASS).
District Collectors were instructed to constitute DTFs at district level to monitor and identify unauthorised constructions, layouts and initiate action accordingly.
Municipal Administration and Urban Development Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar issued orders instructing the Collectors to constitute these teams. Officials from revenue, police, fire services and roads and buildings are being roped in to form the teams, besides hiring a few outsourced employees, a senior MA&UD official told Telangana Today. Depending on the scale of construction activity in municipalities and municipal corporations, the Collectors have been given a free-hand to constitute as many teams as are required. The DTFs have been given the power to levy penalty of up to 25 per cent of the land value or three years imprisonment, in case the owner of unauthorised structure opposes the demolition.
Subsequently, most district administrations have set up the enforcement teams, and since employees from different departments have been made members of the team, they are now being trained on the rules and regulations and the guidelines to be followed for clearing unauthorised structures, the official said, adding that the DTFs will also be seeking information from municipalities and municipal corporations on unlawful buildings or developments and complaints received by the ULBs.
In addition to constituting these teams, the MA&UD department is working on setting up a grievance and call centre that will facilitate people to lodge complaints in case they come across any violation or construction of illegal structures. All measures will be taken to safeguard the identity of the caller and will not be shared with anyone, the official said.
All the district administrations will be uploading details of illegal structures identified and action taken on the dashboard for regular monitoring at the State-level.
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