RAWALPINDI, Oct 28: Building a house in the jurisdiction of Tehsil municipal administration has become an uphill task due to apathy and bureaucratic nature of the building department officials, residents told Dawn.
Getting a building map passed from the municipal administration’s director architect is so arduous and complicated that many people lose heart and abandon their plans to construct a house in the tehsil limits.
“Instead of guiding the people, the building officials create unnecessary hurdles in passing a map”, an affected person said.
He added that he had been struggling for the last two years to get his map approved, but all in vain. The offices of the building officials are always overcrowded with people, seeking to get their building plans passed.
“I don’t know what is wrong with the officials. They treat me as if I’m not a citizen of this country and do not have any rights. For the last two years, I have been striving to get my map passed, but the officials concerned are creating hurdles. They keep on putting me off from one day to another on various excuses”, Firdous, an affected person said.
Well-placed sources told Dawn that a map has to be ratified by at least eight officials for the final approval. All these officials are seldom available in their offices at one time, hence it often takes months for a person to get the plan approved.
Moreover, in case an official raises any objection, it takes even years to get an approval, the sources said. On the other hand, there are people who can manage to get their maps passed in a matter of days, without going through the hassle of running after the officials concerned.
“You must have some connection with the building staff, otherwise they won’t even listen to you. The influential people, however, can get the work done in no time”, an affected person, who had been coming to the office for the last six months, said.
Some of the conditions for the approval of a map are bizarre. It is imperative that the proposed map has been prepared by the Tehsil administration’s recognized architect. Apart from the proof of ownership of the specific land, the applicant also has to submit an affidavit to certify that he will abide by the specific Tehsil building by-laws.
Besides the map, the applicant also has to deposit building fees of Rs5 and Rs10 per square feet for residential and commercial buildings, respectively. Similarly, commercialization fee, i.e. building a commercial building in residential areas, is 25 per cent of the total cost of the land.
In addition to this, the building inspectors also visit the proposed construction site, after which the officials concerned start passing the file to one another like a buck, with one of them allegedly trying his best to create as many hurdles as possible in giving an approval. It depends on their sweet-will when to open the file, the sources said.
The story doesn’t end here, in the next stage, the file goes to the Patwari concerned of the locality. Then comes the turn of the building superintendent, followed by the town planner. After this, the file is sent to the building department’s architect and then to the chief engineer.
In the final stages, the file goes to the Tehsil municipal officer and lastly to the Tehsil Nazim for final approval.
