Vijayawada Municipal Corporation to demolish illegal constructions
VIJAYAWADA: The town planning department of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is formulating an action plan to crack the whip on the owners of illegal residential structures across the city, on the lines of demolition drive conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) at Yanamalakuduru area here in September.
According to civic officials, the demolition drive will be conducted from October 14. A team of task force officials has already conducted a sample survey in the city and prepared a detailed report on the illegal buildings. During the survey, the officials came to know that the infringement rate was high and there are serious violations in the structures under residential and commercial categories.
The town planning officials also served notices on 200 owners of illegal buildings on Monday, whose structures were constructed under 200 sqft before December 31, 2014. The notices were served following the APCRDA Act-2014 and Section 22 of the Hyderabad Municipal Act-1955.
According to sources, the VMC has earned revenue worth `2 crore in the last 27 months through the 10 per cent fine on the owners of illegal buildings, after taking the project cost into consideration. Several owners, who received notices from the civic officials, made a beeline to the corporators of their respective divisions seeking help to halt the demolition drive. They also questioned as to how the corporation could demolish their buildings even after collecting fine from them.
City planner V Srinivasulu told Express that VMC had already started demolishing the illegal structures a few days ago. On Tuesday, a team of officials conducted a demolition drive in Kandrika area of the city during which as many as 14 encroachments constructed in the municipal corporation sites were demolished.