THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation has postponed approval for amendments in the Interim Development Order (IDO) which deals with providing building permits and land use in panchayat regions added to the corporation.
Opposition councillors demanded more clarity on the proposal at the corporation council meeting held on Friday.
The agenda was postponed after a lengthy discussion which failed to arrive at a general consensus. With only one council meeting remaining before the local body elections which are set for December, the issue is expected to be taken up then.
The proposed amendments are beneficial to people who are facing difficulties in getting their building permit applications cleared as their land has been wrongly marked as paddy field or as meant for public use (red zone).
When opposition councillors questioned the delay in presenting the draft master plan which would ensure that the current amendments are not necessary, Town Planning committee chairman Palayam Rajan said the civic body had organised discussions in all wards and with people from various sectors to take all their concerns into consideration and avoid the kind of backlash the previous draft master plan had evoked.
“The pandemic has affected some of the processes in drafting the master plan. The draft master plan can be tabled only in the next council’s tenure as we still have some steps including another presentation in remaining ward committees,” said Rajan.
Friday’s session passed an agenda by which contingent workers working in the civic body for more than a decade would be elevated as permanent employees. While BJP councillors raised concerns about the move, UDF councillors supported the move.