The new building of Gyan Niketan Girls’ School located along Ashiana-Digha road suspected to having been constructed in violation of building bye-laws

Patna Municipal Corporation has put up photographs of structures, allegedly being constructed in violation of building bye-laws, on its website www.patnanagarnigam.in.

The move comes in light of the hearing in a case against unregulated mushrooming of buildings in the city.

Residents can also file complaints against irregular building constructions in their vicinity on the civic body website. Patna High Court had instructed the civic body to take such measures prior to the hearing on Monday.

“We have uploaded photographs of buildings suspected to be constructed in violation of construction norms in all wards of the city. Details of more buildings under the PMC’s scanner would be uploaded tomorrow (Monday). Moreover, important findings of reports, submitted by the architects registered with the PMC, would also be uploaded on Monday,” said Kuldip Narayan, the PMC commissioner.

The PMC has uploaded 995 photographs of buildings on its website. To view the photographs, visitors would need to click on the link — Buildings Under Scanner by PMC — on the homepage of the PMC’s website. Once the link is clicked, the visitor is taken to a Picasa web album titled — Patna Nagar Nigam’s Gallery, where all 995 photographs can be viewed. Architects registered with the PMC have taken the photographs and they have also submitted construction approval documents related to each building to the civic body.

Following the high court order on May 10 in a PIL against illegal mushrooming of high rises in the city, the civic body had asked the registered architects in the last week of June to submit a report on all building maps approved by them and the periodical inspection reports from the time of their empanelment with the PMC till December 2012.

On July 2, the PMC submitted before the division bench of the high court comprising Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Vikash Jain that 5,684 building plans were passed by registered architects between 2009 and 2012.

With regard to registering complaints on the civic body’s website, residents would need to click on the link — Register Complaint Regarding Irregular Building Construction — on the homepage. Once the link is clicked, the visitor is asked to fill a form asking personal details and the nature and details of complaints. The complaints can be filed in either of four sub-categories related to irregular construction, empanelled architect, encroachment and planning report. The complainant can also upload related documents with the form.

The complaint registration section has been provided in adherence to the directive issued by the division bench of the high court on July 2 that the search option for online services (on the website of the PMC) should be made operational to lodge complaints with regard to illegal constructions.

The court had directed the PMC that provision should also be made, so that the moment a complaint is registered, a number is generated and sent to the e-mail ID of the complainant, along with a confirmation. The report with regard to the action initiated on the complaint is also required to be generated and put on the website within 72 hours on the notice board against the particular complaint.