With possibility of early LS polls, govt cosies up to builders

Netas across the country have recognised that as an upshot of the climate change in the corridors of power the Lok Sabha election season may happen sooner than expected So state units are busy preparing the ground and wooing potential vote banks Builders here believe they are the beneficiaries of a similar exercise kicked off by Prithviraj Chavan when he was seen directing bureaucrats to speed up resolution of pending matters visagravevis the industryu00a0 This happened during a meeting chaired by the CM with office bearers of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry MCHI present at Sahyadri state guesthouse last week As a matter of course representatives of the apex body of developers broached a host of issues But the CMrsquos response according to them was quite unprecedented He was asking senior officials to get things done in an unmitigated tone something builders had never witnessed in the past It was clearly an indication that prospects of early elections had shaped the governmentrsquos approach towards the lobby said a source The CM asked officials to respond to almost every subject raised by the developers For instance when MCHI functionaries made a case for early clearance of building plans BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte said soon the whole process of approval would go online It would become simpler to track the progress of applications he said On the matter of highrises developers said the current criteria of forwarding proposals of buildings beyond 70 metres in height for clearances from the fire department and highrise committee should be changed The national building code has suggested different norms and those should be followed they contended On this Kunte asked for details of those provisions Currently the ladders with the fire department can only go up to 70 metres and it was justifiable to go through the proposals he said The topic was discussed at some length as developers suggested they could always opt for best available inbuilt firefighting systems in buildings If the government was worried it could organise a structural audit by a committee of experts comprising people of IIT and VJTI Their recommendations and verdict should be accepted by the authorities the MCHI office bearers said Issues raised by developers gtgt The government should not insist for adherence to a directive by ministry of environment amp forests MoEF as no other state follows this The directive deals with various noobjection certificates from environment department gtgt The system for NA nonagricultural land clearance should be streamlined as it requires 40 days at this time Nashik district collector has made it available online gtgt Clearance by Urban Land Ceiling department should be speeded up removing certain bottlenecks as it takes considerable time to get NOC on change of user change in use change in ownership loading of FSI and TDR gtgt The state should clarify its stand on certain issues related to rental housing as approximately 120 proposals are pending at various levels gtgt The state should also speed up the process of merger of A B and C category buildings in Mumbai as there is no logic in treating these old and dilapidated structures with different yardsticks While A category buildings are those constructed prior to 1940 B category ones were built between 1940 and 1950 and those in the C category were constructed in 195069 Govt officials said determination of the matter is in the final stagesu00a0