Bhubaneswar, Aug. 25: Here’s another graft charge for Anna Hazare to chew on. The authorities of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) have discovered to their horror that the corporation has suffered losses running into several crores as some of its own officials have colluded with builders and allowed them to go ahead with their projects without obtaining no objection certificates (NOCs).

Builders are supposed to pay two per cent of the project cost to obtain NOC. This money is used by the BMC for peripheral development of the area in which the project comes up. The corporation has taken up the issue following complaints from a number of councillors.

According to rules prescribed by the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003, NOC to a builder has to be provided within one month and if municipal corporation officials take more than one month, the applicant can take for granted that the NOC has been granted by default. Here lies the problem, as the authorities who are supposed to provide such certificates, in fact, have on purpose taken more than a month’s time so that the builders do not have to pay peripheral development fees.

Councillors alleged that some builders have shown peripheral development initiative (against the fee they were to pay) in areas outside the ward in which their project is to come up. Such initiatives are not valid. But some BMC officials have accepted such proposals. Nor are other instances valid in which builders have shown as public, private roads that they have built within their project area and marked such stretches as peripheral development initiatives.

“In many cases, some builders have given the example of peripheral development initiative in localities outside the ward in which their project is coming up and officials have accepted such proposals. The builder of a mega project in ward No. 1 had to pay Rs 75 lakh as peripheral development charge. But the developer has shown welfare work in Saliha Sahi (which does not fall in ward No. 1) and has even shown as public, private roads that he has built within his project area near KIIT University as peripheral development initiatives. Not only this, in Patia there are probably more than 40 such cases in which the NOC was either delayed for the benefit of the builders or builders have lied about peripheral development initiatives,’’ alleged local councillor Manoranjan Behera.

Builders have to obtain an NOC from BMC before getting building plan approvals from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). “But there are cases where even without NOC, developers have received the nod from BDA. This is a violation of the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment empowering urban local bodies with granting NOC,’’ Behera added.

Behera is not alone. Councillors of ward No. 2 and ward No. 49 have given specific information to the authorities concerned regarding violations of NOC norms and favours shown to builders by some BMC officials in charge of the NOC Cell.

A senior BMC official admitted that they were inquiring into the seriousness of the allegation and calculating the loss. “The civic body is already losing a huge amount as the collection of various taxes (such as holding tax and trade licences) is not as it should be. In this light, this new revelation is even more shocking and if required we might approach the appropriate authorities to initiate a probe into these allegations,’’ he said.

He indicated that a preliminary report of more than 50 such NOC violations has reached the BMC authorities from its two engineering divisions. The official also said that in ward No. 2 and 49 there might be around 10 such major violations.

According to an old report, there are 300 apartment blocks, or multi-storeyed buildings, in the city, but the BMC officials believe the number might have crossed 500 by now.

A fresh survey is needed to find out how many have actually taken the mandatory NOC from BMC to construct the buildings.

During the council meeting held on June 29, councillors had taken a unanimous decision that BMC should send a fresh resolution to the housing and urban development department to make it mandatory for builders, property developers and real estate promoters to obtain NOCs before they sell any property.

The councillors’ body had also made it clear that without an NOC a builder should not be allowed to get electricity and water connections.

It also decided that notice boards would be put up near properties that had violated NOC norms advising people not to buy houses there. But the state government has not yet responded to the BMC resolution.

NOC from the civic authority is necessary as the drainage, sewerage and traffic problems arising from any housing project are linked to BMC and at times people come to the urban local body when they face civic problems after buying houses.