Palampur: Protest against SADA for failure to approve site plan of houses

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, April 19

The residents of four panchayats of Bir-Billing yesterday lodged a strong protest against the Special Area Development Authority (SADA) set up by the government for the development Bir and Billing for its failure to approve the site plans of their residential houses. They demanded the scrapping of SADA in four panchayats of Bir Billing.

Rules too complicated: Villagers

• Villagers said that SADA had made their lives miserable because of the complicated rules like advance approval for the construction of houses, shops and other buildings in the area.
• The villagers could not construct even a cowshed without the permission of SADA in the four panchayats.
• Residents say they have submitted the site plans of their buildings for approval in the SADA office for the past six months but have not got permission so far.

Significantly, in Bir Billing no building can be constructed without the prior approval of SADA. This stipulation is causing inconvenience to the residents.

Over 50 villagers, while speaking to mediapersons at Chogan, 40 km from here, said that SADA had made their lives miserable because of the complicated rules. They have to take advance approval for the construction of houses, shops and other buildings in the area. The villagers could not construct even a cowshed without the permission of SADA in the four panchayats.

Besides, it takes months to get permission for SADA for the approval of site plans of residential houses and other buildings. Local residents have submitted the site plans of their buildings for approval in the SADA office but even after six months permission has not been received.

SDM Baijnath D C Thakur said the government had planned to relax SADA rule for the approval of site plans in Bir Billing and the matter was under process. He hoped that the villagers would get relief and their building plans would be cleared.

“Efforts are being made to approve site plans in a month but in most of the cases there are violations like encroachments on government land and lack of proposed parking areas and setbacks, etc. Therefore, the approvals of such buildings have been delayed. Powers to relax such norms lie with the state government, which must listen to people’s grievances,” said a senior officer of Town and country Planning Department.

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