The plight of the twin towers, which were declared illegal by the Supreme Court last year and will be brought down this Sunday, are a lesson for both builders and officials, Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari told on Thursday.
The Noida Authority has, since the judgment, been battling a serious dent to its credibility. While declaring the towers illegal, the apex court had observed that the buildings could not have come up without the connivance of officials in the Noida Authority at that time. The court’s scathing observations had raised several questions about the development body’s functioning.
With the court also directing prosecution of errant officials, the UP government has initiated probes against several officials.
Maheshwari said the twin towers verdict had taught all that if there was any violation, accountability would be fixed — “if not today, then tomorrow”.
“The Supreme Court order and the government action have sent out the message that violations will not be tolerated. An SIT formed by the government is investigating the case in which 26 officials have been named. A strong message has been sent. Now, we have been making efforts to increase transparency and accountability, and work in larger public interest,” she said during a visit to the Emerald Court complex.
Talking about violations in the case of the twin towers, she added, “It’s not that the maps were not approved. That is why the court said there was connivance between the Authority and the developer. Approvals for their construction were given by the Noida Authority itself. The FAR (floor area ratio) purchase was also approved in keeping with the then norms and bylaws. The violations were related more to technical aspects — like the distance between the towers and so on. Besides, residents’ consent was not taken.”
Maheshwari said the Authority had revised some norms to make them more stringent. “We have tightened the disbursal norms of FAR. We have designed a format where buyers’ consent is to be taken, unlike earlier. The builders then would take the buyers’ consent only at the time of selling inventory. Now, we will ask for fresh consent.”
