BENGALURU: The State Government will soon decide whether Occupancy Certificate (OC) should continue to be mandatory as part of the building plan approvals to get other essential clearances like electricity and water supply. This was one of the topics discussed at a closed-door meeting that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held along with other ministers and senior bureaucrats late on Monday evening.
“While discussing the development plan of the city, one of the ministers pointed out that Occupancy Certificate is mandatory. It was also pointed that many apartments and commercial complexes did not have OC, and yet had power supply on temporary basis. So, should the power supply be disconnected or made legal? They discussed whether OC should continue to be part of the plan sanction list. Nothing was finalised, but officials were asked to look into the legal frameworks, after which it will be finalised,” a senior official privy to the discussions told TNIE.
At present, as per the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and BBMP Act, Occupancy Certificate is mandatory and is issued after a detailed check for violations. The meeting also discussed setting up a separate authority to manage 860 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads in Bengaluru and ensure they are well developed with proper traffic management.
The CM reportedly directed the BBMP to undertake projects within its budget and work as per the Fiscal Responsibility Act. He said a separate meeting will be held to discuss the issue of storm water drains and flooding in the city.
He directed the officials to complete the exercise of changing three lakh streetlights to LED and complete the Smart City works at the earliest, besides directing Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to repair and maintain defunct borewells in the 110 villages under BBMP limits immediately.
The CM also set an October deadline for officials to prepare a list of works to undertake under Phase-3
of the CM’s Nava Nagarothana Project and speed up the works under the present Nagarothana project. He also directed officials to complete all the works which were listed out by former CM B S Yediyurappa.