VIJAYAWADA: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths continued their raids on town planning wings of major municipal corporations across the State for the second consecutive day on Wednesday and unearthed evidence of unapproved constructions that were ignored by town planning officials.
During the operation, the surveyor of Anantapur Municipal Corporation was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of `7 lakh. Town surveyor D Koteswara Rao demanded the money to issue a land survey report to the complainant, M Somprasad. The accused and his assistant, Siva, were taken into custody. They will be produced in the ACB court on Thursday.
After taking stock of illegal structures and buildings that didn’t match the submitted plan, the anti-graft officials reported the irregularities to their seniors, and will submit a detailed report to the State government soon. In all, 14 teams with around 100 officials — from additional SP cadre to constables — participated in the inspection and issued notices to owners of buildings.
In Vijayawada, ACB officials found an under-construction building on Central Warehouse Main Road, Kedareswarpet to be illegal and unauthorised. The owner, who didn’t get the plan approved by the VMC, was constructing a commercial-cum-residential building on 53 sq yds.
“The town planning officer didn’t mention this in the register for unauthorised constructions, and no notices were served on the owner,” said ACB Additional SP Maheswar Raju. The team also inspected six other buildings in the city and recorded statements of the building inspectors concerned.
Similarly, a team of officials in Visakhapatnam inspected five illegal structures in Gajuwaka and Madhurawada. “In most cases, building owners violated norms by constructing additional floors and deviated from the actual plan, disregarding setbacks,” ACB officials said.
In Guntur, officials inspected four illegal constructions - in Nallacheruvu, Nagarampalem, Sivaram Nagar and Lakshmipuram - along with the town planning officials. “Though the buildings were not eligible for the Building Penalisation Scheme, the town planning official allowed applicants to regularise the plan and construct the building with deviations. Besides these, 12 buildings were found to be in violation of the approved plans/BPS applications,” officials explained.
ACB officials also inspected illegal constructions in Nellore, Ongole, Tirupati, Tadepalligudem, Kakinada, Srikakulam, Proddatur, Kadiri and Yemmiganur. “A detailed report will be submitted,” said DG-ACB PSR Anjaneyulu.