Illegal Apartments: 689 illegal apartments in Bhubaneswar, Odisha: Minister’s Response | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: There are approximately 719 illegal apartments in Odisha, with 689 of them located in Bhubaneswar alone, according to the housing and urban development minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra’s written response in the assembly. In response to a query posed by Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati regarding the number of such illegal apartments in the state, Mahapatra affirmed that legal proceedings were initiated against 719 apartments across the state, including 689 in Bhubaneswar, for contravening various regulations.
“Under sections 90, 91, and 92 of the Odisha Development Authorities Act of 1982, action is initiated against individuals or entities for breaching the rules.Consequently, cases have been registered, and appropriate measures have been implemented against the offenders,” the minister asserted.
Section 90 of the aforementioned Act stipulates that any person or organization that undertakes development on any land in violation of the development plan or without obtaining the necessary permissions shall be subject to a punishment of simple imprisonment.
Likewise, section 91 pertains to unauthorized construction, granting the authorities the power to demolish illegal structures once their illegality has been established, while section 92 of the Act empowers the authorities to halt unauthorized development. Several apartments violate different kinds of laws. “It is absolutely difficult to ascertain the number of such illegally established apartments. The minister is mentioning the number of apartments on which cases have been filed,” said real estate expert Bimalendu Pradhan.
Citing that the actual number of illegal apartments might be more in number, Pradhan said several buildings in the city do not have fire safety certificates, occupancy certificate or environment clearance, which makes them unauthorised in nature. “If a thorough audit of the buildings is done, more than 80% buildings in Bhubaneswar alone might be found violating certain rules,” he said.
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