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New building bye-laws unacceptable: KHADC

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SHILLONG, Oct 20: KHADC Executive Member in charge of building bye-laws, Paul Lyngdoh has said that the council will not accept the Meghalaya Building Bye-Laws, 2021, notified by the Urban Affairs department since it is against the public interest.
He said there is total confusion and chaos since the state government has not incorporated whatever was agreed upon during the meeting with the Executive Members handling building bye-laws in the three district councils.
“We had insisted that the demarcation of the scheduled areas should fall under the purview of the council. The ADCs have been mentioned only in the definition of the new bye-laws,” Lyngdoh told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
He observed that the new bye-laws have not defined the jurisdiction of the ADCs properly.
Lyngdoh said a major cause of confusion is the provision that the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority will give building permission if a project is on more than 50,000 sq. ft of land in the scheduled areas.
“This is not acceptable since the schedule areas are purely under the purview of the council. How can it come under the purview of the state government only because of the size of the area?” he asked.
According to him, this is an indication that the government wants to slowly take away or reduce the powers and jurisdiction of the council.
Lyngdoh said it is also surprising that the qualification of officers to be in the regulatory authority constituted by the autonomous district council to approve the building plans need to be post-graduates or doctorates in architecture.
“I have not yet heard of anyone who has completed post-graduation or has a doctorate in architecture. Such a provision will only delay the implementation and create problems for the people who are constructing their houses,” he said.
He added that such a provision is unacceptable, illogical and without any justification.
“I want the Urban Affairs Minister to again convene a meeting of the ADCs. The provisions incorporated in the new bye-laws are totally different from what was discussed,” Lyngdoh said.
Stating that they have notified the regulatory authority following a meeting with the government, Lyngdoh said the regulatory authority in its very first meeting detected several glaring flaws in the new building bye-laws.
“We are facing a major problem in carrying out our functions,” he said.
He also said that he will advise KHADC Chief Executive Member, Titosstarwell Chyne to raise the matter with the state government.
“We need to speed up as this was one of the major issues in the 2018 elections,” he said.

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