Local Bodies Are Set For Another Phase Of Regularisation
Drinking water supply is one of the major benefits the extension of the regularisation scheme will bring. Local bodies are set for another phase of regularisation of house sites in unapproved layouts as the State Government has provided six more months for this process. The Government says in its order dated December 5, 2008 that this is being done in view of representations from local bodies that 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the people in the unapproved layouts had not been able to make use of the earlier scheme that ended on December 31, 2007. The order follows an announcement made by Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin in the Assembly on appeals from the heads of local bodies across the State for more time for regularisation. Sources in the Coimbatore Corporation said on Tuesday that the order provides an opportunity for local bodies for total regularisation of the sites in the unapproved layouts. For instance, of the 37,000 sites in Coimbatore city, around 7,000 are to be regularised. The six months given for regularisation will be in force from the date of the issue of the Government Order.
While the order states that this is to enable the left-out sites to be regularised, there are fears of this being misused by layout developers to push the case of newly-formed layouts. “This is not a wise move,” says Coimbatore Consumer Cause secretary K. Kathirmathiyon. Giving more time will only give room for malpractice. The Government should at least make it clear that only sites purchased before July 24, 2006 should be regularised. And, there is no clear statement yet on what steps have been or will be taken to prevent the mushrooming of unapproved layouts, he says. The consumer activist alleges that in some areas sites in unapproved layouts are being sold with the promise that another regularisation scheme will be introduced.
