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7000 plus ’illegal’ buildings in the city: MCC Commissioner

Issue of temporary door numbers stopped to prevent rise of such building

Mangaluru: There is a rise in the number of building violations in Mangaluru city due to a provision for violators to apply for door number for their buildings under 112C of Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act and the this Act is being misused by people building apartments, commercial complexes and houses, said Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Mohammed Nazeer at the council meeting here on Monday, July 30th.

To a question on why the civic body had stopped issuing temporary door numbers to buildings, the commissioner replied that the city already has 7,444 such illegal buildings. Many thought that they could take undue advantage of the section and get away with it by getting temporary door numbers.

The issuing of temporary door numbers had been stop to curtail the rise in the number of illegal buildings in the city through the misuse of a loophole in the Act.

The Act enabled the civic body to double tax the property tax from such buildings which deviated from the licensed building plan, violated set-back rules and zoning regulations. The buildings were issued temporary door number to collect tax and only after correcting all the deviations in construction was their permanent door numbers given, he added.

Water bills

A few councilors said that the corporation was issuing erroneous water bills to some consumers with some domestic consumers have got bills up to Rs. 1 lakh. They demanded that an official be posted to rectify such bills.

Petty shops and parking space

Former Mayor Kavita Sanil said that there are 58 cases where the corporation had failed to take action against those buildings which have converted their parking space for commercial activities. She also mentioned that petty shops have mushroomed near the music fountain in Kadri Park area.