E Arun & Tarun Kartick
Port Blair, Apr 09: The Member of Parliament, Mr Bishnu Pada Ray today claimed that that 90 percent of buildings in Port Blair city have been constructed in violation of PBMC’s bye-laws.
Addressing a press conference at MP Bhawan the MP said that all Govt. Dept buildings, defence buildings are against the bye-laws of the PBMC. He also brought out the fact that the secretariat building of the PBMC also does not follow the bye laws of the PBMC.
He added that the MP Bhavan and LG’s Secretariat is also a violation of the Bye- Laws. He indicated the points from the bye laws and said that the houses should be 90 Mrts. away from the burial ground but in Junglighat there are buildings, constructed very close to the burial lands.
He added that in the municipal areas according to the records of the council there are 306 such buildings whose building plans are not approved by the council. There are also 174 cases where the plans are passed by the council violating the Bye laws.
He added that many buildings were ordered to be demolished but it was not demolished. He gave the example of the building of Mr. K.N Singh which was ordered to be demolished on 5th of December 2007 but the order was not followed and the building was not demolished.
Further he gave the example of Hotel Blair for which the demolition orders were passed on 29th Feb 2000 but the action was not taken and the matter was also raised in the local media also but then also action was not taken and he added that there was black money behind this ignorance of the order.
He added that the funds for the elections and other black money related funds are collected by the council leaders by supporting non-bye laws following buildings. He demanded that bye laws should be checked while construction of a building is going on.
About the unorganized sector rules, the MP said that he had raised question in the lower house of parliament on 4th of March 2013. He further added that the Administration will implement the rules in 2013-2014 and the news was published in media that the Administration has started the work properly but MP said he has problem with it.
MP demanded that the scheme should be implemented on all districts so that the benefits to the families of the unorganized sector should reach them without any leakages. The scheme comes under unorganized worker social security act.
The other issue he raised was the non- payment of arrears to the Home Guards even after winning the case in the 2007. A letter was received from the ministry but the Daily Telegrams did not print it. He said that he had raised a parliament question on 5th March 2013..
In the IDA meeting in of 2003 it was decided that locals should be given employment first but still the Dentist are hired from mainland refusing to give employment opportunities to local competent candidates. He demanded an enquiry in the matter and demanded the locals to be given job opportunities first.
Further he added that he gave a letter to the Speaker of the lower house on 18th March 2013 regarding making viper a heritage site. He alleged that the LG along with other officers have made the plan to make Viper Island a hub for tourists with resorts, yacht marina, casino’s etc. He informed that he has already moved Privilege motion against the Home Minister in regard with construction of Yacht Marina.
The Member of Parliament added that the note from the administration in the regard to Viper Island says that the job opportunities on the Yacht marina will be given to the unemployed youth of the neighbouring Islands but the fact is that Andaman does not have region wise job quota.
