Bhubaneswar, June 12: The development authority has initiated a process to constitute a planning vigilance squad to detect deviation and unauthorised constructions at an early stage.

The squad will consist of five members — one each from the planning, enforcement, land, allotment and engineering departments — of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA).

A joint town planner of planning wing of the development authority will head the squad.

Member, town and regional planning of the BDA Pitabasa Sahoo said: “We are receiving complaints regarding violation of building regulations, but at a later stage. However, if any citizen informs us about violations during the early stage of construction, we can take action.”

The squad will visit the suspected site and file a report. Earlier, plan deviation complaints were addressed to the enforcement officials, but there were chances of misreporting or suppression of facts.

With a multi-member squad, the reporting is likely to be more accurate and will usher in more transparency.

Sahoo also said many cases of serious deviations and irregularities were still awaiting demolition and legal formalities were coming in the way.

“We are trying to minimise the cases and handle them when at an initial stage,” he said.

Citing an example, he said a BDA-approved plotting scheme at Shampur was found to have changed from its original plan. Land earmarked for roads and parks were diverted to increase the size of nearby plots.

As the case was detected at an early stage, the matter was addressed quickly.

“We want that the cases related to such violations are reported early, so that people do not face problems in the future,” he said.

Sahoo said a residents’ welfare association at a Kalpana Square apartment was now facing a major problem with sewer disposal as it failed to obtain the no-objection certificate. There was gross violation in the apartment’s building plan.

A BDA official said there were 222 major structures in the city, violating the building by-law, including encroachment of government land, roads and natural drainage channel.

Tatkal scheme

The planning wing of the BDA has prepared a new scheme to provide plan approval in 10 days. Termed as ‘Tatkal’, the scheme, however, will be applicable to plots with size 5,000sqft or less.

Member, town and regional planning of the BDA Pitabasa Sahoo said: “In March last, we had introduced a guideline to issue plan approval within 60 days. The response was tremendous. We received 163 applications in March, 367 in April and 433 in May. So now, we want to introduce another scheme with a shorter time span.”

However, a BDA official said that to be on the safe side, the scheme would be applicable to plots either allotted by the BDA, Odisha State Housing Board, general administration department and the development authority-approved schemes.

To get the plan approval through the ‘tatkal’ scheme, an applicant has to spend Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000 extra depending on the size of the built-up area. At present, an applicant is paying less than Rs 1,000 for such approval within 60 days.