CHENNAI: Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) deployed a special team to clear over 1,700 planning permission applications remaining pending at eight panchayat unions and five town panchayats for the past one year, according to a top CMDA official. Seven teams of seven assistant planners and 15 planning assistants have been formed to clear the files within this week, told the official to TNIE.
CMDA delegated powers to local bodies for permitting residential developments up to 10,000 square feet within Chennai Metropolitan Area. It deployed five planning officers to ten panchayat unions and 11 town panchayats for technical scrutiny enabling it to issue permission to the local bodies.
Welcoming the move, Builders Association of India State Secretary S Rama Prabhu pointed out the majority of the files are pending at Chitlapakkam in St Thomas Panchayat Union. “The planner appointed there had gone on medical leave leading to the piling up of files. We had even complained about it,” claimed Prabhu.
Stating CMDA should focus on clearing the application of unapproved plots for regularisation, Prabhu said, “Most of them applied online over two years ago. CMDA should clear them.”