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General Administration

Mettupalayam Municipality seals shop for illegal sublet

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The Hindu        28.11.2014  

Mettupalayam Municipality seals shop for illegal sublet

The Mettupalayam Municipality has recently sealed a shop at the municipal bus stand after it found the shopkeeper to have illegally sublet the premises.

The sealing and the civic body’s proposal to auction all its shops in the town has angered the Opposition councillors who staged a protest on Tuesday.

Mobile shop

Municipal Chairman D. Sathish Kumar said that the shop that the officials sealed belonged to a Sarvodaya organisation, which after taking it on action had sublet the premises for setting up a mobile phone shop.

This was in violation of the rules and resulted in loss of revenue.

A rough study the Commissioner K. Saravanakumar has suggested that owners of almost all the 200 shops had illegally sublet the premises for rent which was far higher than what they paid the Municipality.

If the Municipality were to auction all the 200 shops, including the prized 100 in the bus stand, it would get at Rs. 2.50 crore a year as against the Rs. 75 lakh it earned at present.

Renovation

Mr. Kumar said that the civic body had been forced to take such a step because it needed to boost revenue to pay its share in various development projects that the Central and State governments had approved.

For instance, it needed money for the following projects - bus stand renovation, new municipal office, workers quarters project and water supply improvement.

To improve the income from shops, the Municipality would first auction the shop it had sealed to see what the highest bid was.

Based on the amount the shop generated, it would fix the rent for the other shops.

If the shopkeepers were ready to pay the revised rent they could continue using the shops else the civic body would auction the shops afresh keeping the highest bid amount as a guideline.

Mr. Kumar also said that the Opposition had no basis for opposing the initiative that was aimed at boosting the civic body’s revenue.

 

Corporation removes hoardings

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The Hindu       27.11.2014 

Corporation removes hoardings

The Coimbatore Corporation for the second day on Wednesday removed 155 illegal hoardings, sign boards and advertisements in the city. On Tuesday it had removed over 120 hoardings from across the city. According to Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan, the civic body workers also removed 512 advertisement boards that were nailed into trees.

On Wednesday, the officials disconnected 31 illegal water connections. On Tuesday, the Corporation had severed 15 illegal water connections.

 

 

Old buildings get a month’s time

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The Hindu         27.11.2014  

Old buildings get a month’s time

Following the collapse of a number of buildings this monsoon, the Chennai Corporation has decided to begin issuing notices to dilapidated buildings, advising owners to either demolish or repair the structures.

Stringent measures are likely to be taken within a month.

“This is the first time ward-level officials have completed enumeration of such buildings, in three years. They identified 21 buildings in our ward on Tuesday. They will start issuing notices to owners this week,” said Kalarimuthu, councillor of ward 58, located close to Ripon Buildings. “The notice for such buildings is being issued under Section 258 of CCMC Act. Measures should be taken to prevent misuse of the provisions by residents,” said an official.

Earlier, just 132 buildings in the city had been estimated to be dilapidated. Action on repair or demolition had not been initiated either.

According to the new survey, the number of such buildings reported in Royapuram zone alone has exceeded the previous estimate.

At least 150 buildings in Royapuram zone, covering areas of George Town, will have to be demolished or repaired within 30 days of issuance of notice by the Chennai Corporation.

“We have collected photo evidence of the damaged buildings. Some residents are resisting the move,” said a junior engineer. George Town, Chintadripet, Santhome, Mylapore, Nungambakkam and Purasawalkam are some of the areas with a large number of such buildings.

“The owners have 30-days’ time to demolish the buildings. After that, the Chennai Corporation will take over the demolition. The owners also have the option of repairing the buildings before obtaining a stability certificate from structural engineers,” said an official.

Last week, two persons were killed after a 100-year-old building collapsed on Rajaji Salai.

Last week, two persons were killed after a 100-year-old building collapsed on Rajaji Salai

 


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