Tamil Nadu Housing minister S. Muthusamy said the state government would soon demolish the apartments that were in dilapidated condition and built years ago by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB), and replace them with new ones.
Speaking at a conference that was organized by the Construction and Real Estate Industry Coalition (CRIC) he said they had identified 60 dilapidated apartments with 10,000 dwellings across the state. “We are taking steps to demolish them and build new ones.”
Muthusamy said the government would also demolish the apartments built by TNHB under the self-financing scheme and build new structures. “There are 12,000 such dilapidated dwellings in apartments. Residents have vacated them already. Though the government has no role in apartments built under the self-financing scheme, we are taking up the task, because the chief minister has asked us to do it.”
Responding to the requests from the members of CRIC, the minister said the state government would provide six months’ time to regularize unapproved layouts. “But beyond that no provision will be given for regularization of unapproved layouts. In future, there should be no unapproved layouts. You should ensure that,” he told the builders and real estate developers who participated in the conference.
He also asked them to ensure that there was no deviation from the building plans approved by the government agencies. “In Chennai, we have sealed 11 buildings that were found with severe deviations.”
To another issue raised by the builders, Muthusamy said the government was also planning to revise Hill Area Conservation Authority guidelines to regularize the area being covered under the authority. “We have sought views of the district collectors in this regard.”
To a complaint that the 60-day single window system for building plan approval clearances was not functioning properly, Muthusamy said there were some initial hiccups that were causing delay in a few places. “Everything will be streamlined soon.”
Later in the day, he chaired a review meeting at the district collectorate with collector Kranti Kumar Pati and corporation commissioner M Prathap regarding demolition of 1,488 dilapidated housing board tenements at Singanallur and Sowripalayam. Muthusamy said the demolition work would begin soon at the two places.
