Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 2: Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) today sealed 18 buildings in Srinagar’s posh Jawahar Nagar area under the directions of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court for violating Srinagar Master Plan.
The High Court had last week directed the SMC to seal the buildings belonging to violators as per the show cause notices and demolition order of 2009, after hearing a Public Interest Litigation on encroachments, removing of illegal structures raised in violation of Master Plan in Srinagar city.
In 2009, SMC had issued show cause notices to various violators for sealing of commercial complexes under Section 8 of COBA-1998, but none of the buildings was demolished.
People in various residential areas of Srinagar city have constructed shopping complexes and hotels with active connivance of the SMC over the decades. An SMC official said that people had applied for construction of residential house and after construction they changed it into commercial complexes with the help of some corrupt officials.
Sensing conspiracy in sealing their shops, Jawahar Nagar shop-owners today protested against Srinagar Municipal Committee (SMC) accusing them of “selective” approach in sealing the commercial building raised in residential areas.
Owners who fall on SMC’s axe have accused the authorities for hatching conspiracy against a selected group of persons, alleging that other influential persons have been set free to violate the same norms in the city, adding, that SMC has issued notices against only 45 violators while as there are more than 40,000 violations in Srinagar.
“SMC has issued notice for demolition of 45 building in Srinagar city which came up in last 10-15 years with SMC permission and other necessary requirements at the time of construction,” the protesting owners said, adding that they have been paying commercial charges for water and electricity for these years with the permission from the same authorities who have ordered for demolition.
They said the representatives from Srinagar Development Authority, Revenue Department, Electric Department, PHE Department and others have granted us permission for building construction commercial, semi-commercial, institutional religious, education purposes etc. as per rules and regulations.
They accused the SMC for constructing their own buildings parallel to the buildings declared illegal by them at Karan Nagar and then renting out the same for amassing huge wealth under corrupt practices. “The SMC has itself constructed scores of buildings in and around Karan Nagar area of city during these years, but we didn’t find any mention of these buildings in the Master Plan violation list issued by SMC officials,” Lone said.
A top official of SMC, who wished not to be named, said the SMC was doing it to achieve a balanced growth and development of the Srinagar City. “We have directed citizens not to raise any kind of construction without obtaining the proper permission from the competent authority, but they didn’t paid any heed to our repeated warnings, today we have been forced to seal these buildings,” he said.
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