Vigilance recommendation to prevent illegal construction, suggests to issue permit in two stages

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance has issued recommendation to prevent illegal constructions and the corruption of officials in local bodies who accept bribes for this. The recommendation is to issue building permits in two stages and to conduct strict inspection before giving permits.

Permission should be first given to complete the foundation and then in second stage for further construction. Permission should be allowed only after strict inspection in both stages. This will be applicable to both houses and commercial buildings. It is also recommended to collect and verify the information of all the buildings that have been numbered over a period of two years to detect irregularities.

At present, the officials visit the site only when the application for building permit is received and then after the completion of construction when applied for occupancy certificate. Most of the construction is done against the original submitted plan. Once construction is complete, demolition is impractical and so officials will turn a blind eye by taking bribes. This is what creates more illegal constructions.

'Operation True house' is an inspection conducted by Vigilance department when several complaints regarding irregularities in issuing building permits and occupancy certificates were received.