The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) will try to accelerate the process of issuing building permissions.
In response to a question raised by the opposition leader, Pynshngain Syiem, during Question Hour in the ongoing KHADC session, the Executive Member in charge of Building By-Laws, Paul Lyngdoh, said that the council is trying to speed up the process for buildings in the tribal administered areas and Shillong Master Plan.
Informing that the council has already constituted the Khasi Hills Building and Structure Regulatory Authority (KHBSRA) for the implementation of the building by-laws and issuance of permission, Lyngdoh said that the council is trying to address the problem of shortage of manpower, especially in terms of engineers.
To alleviate the shortfall, an agreement has been struck so that technical officers of the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) will be partially seconded to the council.
As an interim arrangement, the KHADC will also implement the Meghalaya Building By-Laws 2021 (of the state government) until the council has its own set of by-laws that will conform with the state by-laws. Manpower will also be drawn from departments that have smaller workloads to work with the KHBSRA.
He said that the aim is to have uniform building by-laws across the state and he maintained that there cannot be building by-laws that conflict with the National Building Code, which is applicable throughout the country.
Informing that the applications are currently being scrutinised to start issuing permission, Lyngdoh said, “The process of issuing the letter of assurance for the 400-plus housing loan applications, which are required to be submitted to banks, to avail housing loans has started and we will start the exercise for issuing of building permission once the banks approve the loan applications.”
The main focus at the moment is to monitor permissions for buildings that are commercial, like homestays and hotels.
He also informed that there are reports that many have violated the National Building Code by constructing their homestays and hotels very close to river banks.
