Realtors told to focus on greenery to get Howrah building plans cleared

HOWRAH: With an eye on enhancing greenery, Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) is set to introduce new building rules. Builders of high-rises will need to build eco-friendly structures to get their building plans sanctioned. The rules will conform to norms prescribed under the West Bengal Housing and Industry Regulation Act (WBHIRA).
Announcing the decision on new building rules, HMC commissioner Dijin Krishna said, “The new building rules will be strictly enforced and builders will be severely penalised for any deviation from the rules.” On Friday, the HMC commissioner led a team of engineers of the civic body to a meeting with officials of CREDAI’s Howrah-Hooghly chapter.
Chapter chairman Ram Ratan Chowdhury said, “CREDAI will extend its technical expertise to HMC in enforcing the new building rules.”

Asked what drove the civic body to frame the new rules, HMC sources said, “Every year, the civic body receives at least 60-70 complaints against illegal building construction. When the elected board ran HMC, they regularised all such alleged illegal buildings against retention fee. The money received as retention fee helped the board mop up huge revenues. This practice was stopped once the term of the board expired and the HMC commissioner was asked to chair an administrative committee to run the civic body.”
The HMC area spans across 98 square kilometres and is home to 2.2 million people. But, illegal constructions are rampant in the town. Heaps of building material strewn around roadsides is a common sight in Howrah. Such material is mixed in the open, causing pollution. This will also be banned under the new rules, said an HMC source. “No wonder, prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchitis has increased by 40% in Howrah over the last five years,” said Sujay Chakraborty, Howrah chapter head of Indian Medical Association (IMA).
Outlining the rules, Krishna said, “Builders will have to use construction material that will ensure minimum radiation from the buildings. In this endeavour, the rules will prohibit use of glazed tiles on the exteriors of any building. Rain water harvesting will be mandatory in all high-rise buildings.”
Other features of the new rules include mandatory installation of solar panels on terraces. Besides, each floor should have proper fire-fighting system. This apart, builders will have to ensure that sewerage reservoirs of buildings are pollution-free. “The buildings must have covered vats near them. Moreover, builders will have to develop high-rises in such a way that residents can practise rooftop and balcony gardening. Approaches to buildings must have gardening space too,” said a source.