NILGIRIS: The Confederation of Environment Associations of Nilgiris (CEAN) has requested the Nilgiris district collector P Aruna for action against real estate promoters, engineers and architects involved in constructing buildings in violation of hill conservation rules and norms.
The CEAN’s charge against them comes in the wake of a recent report by a daily newspaper in which the Nilgiris Civil Engineers Association and Architects allegedly sought the Nilgiris district administration for approval of 5,000 building applications.
Surjit K Chaudhary, a former IAS officer and chairperson-cum-coordinator of CEAN, said “We would like to state that the real culprits against hill conservation are real estate promoters, engineers and architects as is very clearly proved in the multiple natural disasters in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and hence licences of all the architects and engineers who were constructed in violation of building norms in Nilgiris, should be cancelled."
“Building applications of Badagas, Tribals, Tamil settlements and other original settlers should be dealt with priority since their construction is small in nature, less than 1,000 square feet. The real estate promoters from outside are buying land abutting highways and roads of joint patta lands of Badagas and others and are blocking the rear landowners from access to roads and subsequently blackmailing them to sell their lands at cheaper prices,” he said.
The members wanted the collector to form a committee of environmentalist engineers and architects under the chairmanship of the collector for consultation on reduction of biotic pressure on the hills.