Latest news with #municipaladministrationandurbandevelopment
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Safety norms go up in smoke, officials seek more teeth to fire Act
1 2 Hyderabad: Just a few days before the Gulzar Houz fire on Sunday which claimed 17 of a family, Telangana fire department had sent a proposal to the state govt seeking amendments to the 'toothless' Telangana Fire Service Act-1999 to make it stringent and hold people accountable. The current norms are easy to bypass and penalties are so low that it does little to stop violations even when there are deaths, fire officials said. As per the current Act, a fire department NOC is required only if the height of a building exceeds 15 metres (commercial) and 18 metres (residential). Fire department also has a say in buildings of public congregation such as schools, theatres, function hall and religious places but only if they are above 500 square metres and 6 metres or more in height. The department wants to change all that and make an NOC mandatory for all commercial entities in 300 square metres irrespective of their height. This, however, will still not cover small shops built cheek by jowl in commercial areas. Fire officials said the current Act has tied their hands and cited the 2022 Bhoiguda scrap godown fire where 12 workers had died. Though police filed a chargesheet against the owner and godown operator under IPC section 304 (ii) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), the fire department did not initiate prosecution under the Fire Service Act as the rules didn't apply to the entity. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Mix 4 Kitchen Ingredients, Wake Up Thinner Every Morning Health Now Undo "For instance, a business entity may be spread over 1 acre but with less than 15 metres in height. They don't need a fire NOC as per the existing Act. Several chemical industries and gas godowns don't need a fire NOC since they operate from premises below 15 metres in height. In the proposed Act, commercial entities operating in 300 square metres area irrespective of height would need fire NOC. We also suggested to the govt to bring in rules for public to go for self-certification through fire auditors," said a fire department official. The proposal was prepared by the fire department after a series of discussions with team of experts from municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) department, Fire & Security Association of India, Credai and law department. They also want the penalties increased. Currently, in case of fire with fatalities, the existing punishment is 'up to three months or fine of Rs 25,000 or both'. Officials want it increased, where there is criminal negligence, to up to five years and a fine like in fatal road accident cases under section 106 (1) of BNS. In the case of non-fatal fire accidents, the department wants the fine enhanced to at least Rs 50,000. "In the existing Act, even if people die in a fire due to the company or building owner's negligence, the accused gets away by paying a fine. We want to change that in the new Act." For instance, on Nov 6, 2007, a worker died and two others suffered injuries in a fire at a pharma company in Pashamylaram in Patancheru. Under the current Act, a local court in Sangareddy convicted the deputy general manager and the plant manager but they were merely fined Rs 15,000 fine each. Similarly, on Oct 21, 2006, three workers of a jewellery store died in a fire at a multi-storied building in Somajiguda. Here too a local court in Nampally imposed only a fine of Rs 15,000 on the MD and the manager.
Hans India
22-04-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Guidelines issued for Revalidation of 870 layouts in Urban Development Authorities
Vijayawada: The department of municipal administration and urban development on Monday issued guidelines on the collection of applicable fees and charges along with the penalty for the delayed period with respect to Re-validation of offline layouts. These guidelines will enable the authorities to dispose of all the revalidation of old layouts in a time bound manner duly collecting the applicable fees and charges along with the penalty for the delayed period, as a one-time relaxation, said S Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department. In a press release, Suresh Kumar has announced that the department received requests from people for the revalidation of layouts. He directed the director of town and country planning, Mangalagiri to pursue the orders. Earlier, the Director of Town & Country Planning, Mangalagiri has brought to the notice of the government that the stakeholders have been requesting to issue orders for re-validation of old Layout Permission beyond three Years which were issued in online mode. The Director of Town & Country Planning noticed that 870 layouts to an extent of 8509 Acres need to be re-validated and these were approved way back between 2 years to 20 years. Suresh Kumar instructed the authorities to dispose of all the revalidation of old layouts in a time bound manner duly collecting the applicable fees and charges along with the penalty for the delayed period, as fixed by the Government as one-time relaxation. Earlier, the government has constituted a committee for studying the issue and suggest penalty after examining the matter in detail and to submit report. As per the AP Layout Rules, revalidation of a layout for additional periods of two years requires payment of 50 percent of the layout permit fee as per the norms. The committee suggested for adopting the same criteria for revalidating online approved files. The number of revalidation periods for each layout should be determined based on the duration of the validity lapse. The applicant shall ensure that there is no variation to the approved layout pattern before obtaining revalidation. The layout permit fee must be calculated according to the current gazette rates of the respective Urban Development Authority (UDA). If the gap period for revalidation is less than one year after calculating the spell of two-years, the fee shall be collected on a proportionate basis. For gap periods exceeding one year but less than two years, it shall be considered as one spell for the purpose of fee calculation. The state government is trying to strengthen the Urban Development Authorities and giving more powers to ensure that local areas are developed.
