VIJAYAWADA: If you have a vacant plot filled with garbage and weeds, get that cleared as soon as possible or face the music as the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has decided to penalise the owners and lodge FIRs against them for damaging public health and causing a nuisance to neighbours.
In all, 15,393 vacant plots have been identified in the 59 divisions of the city and the civic body has set a target of raising Rs 133 crore from Vacant Land Tax (VLT) during this financial year. Most of the empty lands are filled with waste and weeds and have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and stray animals posing threat to public health.
Taking a serious note of the matter and aiming to check the spread of vector-borne diseases, public health department officials have served notices on around 200 owners of vacant plots which have been left unattended over the years. The signboards put up in the plots by the town planning department warns the owners of penal action if they fail to keep the property clean.
Speaking to TNIE, Municipal Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh said that despite instructions from public health department officials, several landowners have still not cleared the garbage accumulated on their premises. “As a result, several such vacant plots across the city have been flooded with rainwater and have become breeding ground for mosquitoes. We have decided to penalise the owners under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code for endangering public safety,” he said.
The civic body chief further said the officials concerned are facing a tough time in identifying and contacting the plot owners over phone or through other mediums as most of them are Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). However, a few of them, who are residing in and around the vicinity of the city have started approaching the corporation after receiving the notices and cleared the piled up garbage on their premises.
‘’Initially, we are approaching the vacant plot owners and asking them to maintain their premises properly. If they fail to do so, notices. If notices have no effect, we are imposing hefty penalties,’’ Venkatesh said, adding that so far the civic body has not taken the extreme step of auctioning the vacant plots.