The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has virtually stopped taking action against illegal constructions in the city over the last six months.
The civic administration has not undertaken any demolition drive after March this year. Not even a single major illegal construction has been demolished during this period.
“No special drive has been conducted for demolition of illegal construction. The lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, humanitarian reasons as well as legal directives have prevented us from conducting demolition drives. Only a couple of extremely dilapidated and life-threatening structures were razed down during this period,” said a senior civic official.
Under normal circumstances, the civic administration carries out demolition drives every month. On an average, illegal construction spread across 80,000 sq ft is demolished every month. This year, the figure has reduced by around 5% due to the months-long lockdown.
“As per the directives of the court and other government authorities, no coercive action should be taken against illegal constructions for now. So we have not conducted a special drive targeting illegal constructions,” said a senior official of the PMC.
According to PMC officials, a structure is treated as an illegal constructions if it is carried out by flouting the norms set by the building permission department.
“The PMC is taking legal action against people, who are involved in illegal constructions. The notices have been issued as per the act. The future course of action will be decided based on the directives of the High Court and the government,” said Kailas Karale, a nodal officer of PMC’s building permission department.