Tamil Nadu housing minister rejects BJP's charge, bats for single-window system

This would ensure that all land and building-related approvals are given only through the single-window system.
Housing Minister S Muthusamy refuting allegations of corruption in granting land-related approvals, at a presser in Chennai on Wednesday | P Jawahar
Housing Minister S Muthusamy refuting allegations of corruption in granting land-related approvals, at a presser in Chennai on Wednesday | P Jawahar

CHENNAI: Minister for Housing and Urban Development S Muthusamy on Wednesday said all planning permissions will be offered online from June 10 and this single-window system would also be able to process applications for land conversion and layouts within two months. This would ensure that all land and building-related approvals are given only through the single-window system.

Speaking to reporters here, the minister also highlighted the delegation of powers to Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) officials so that they could clear layouts up to 10 acres (earlier five acres) and to local bodies so they can clear layouts up to five acres (earlier 2.5 acres).

On vacancies in DTCP and CMDA, he said the former had 32% posts vacant (287 posts) whereas the latter had 37% posts vacant (257 posts). He vowed to fill most of these posts in three months. During the presser, Muthusamy junked the allegations of BJP TN president K Annamalai that DTCP and CMDA favoured G-Square, a real-estate firm allegedly linked to a relative of Chief Minister MK Stalin, by granting its land-related approvals within days.

In the Coimbatore case, the application for reclassification of 125 acres was filed by Coimbatore-based developer Sivamanickam on December 12, 2019. The permission was granted on January 28, 2021, before the DMK came to power. As for the project in Chengalpattu’s Egatur, an application seeking approval of layout was submitted on October 7, 2021, and the applicant’s name was Mahveer Sandhu. The DTCP gave the approval in 30 days.

Also, CMDA took five months to clear the three files highlighted by Annamalai and these files were not in the name of G-Square. The minister said the dates given by Annamalai while making these allegations were wrong. “The question is not names in the files cleared. It should be whether rules were followed in clearing them. Was there any violation, any OSR violation?” he asked. To a question on regularising unauthorised constructions in Red Hills catchment area, he said it would not be allowed.

He also defended the chief executive officer post in CMDA, the need for which had been questioned by Annamalai. The minister said the post was created in 1978 and 46 IAS officers served in that post since then. “It’s an important post, otherwise it would have been abolished,” he said.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com