Plan to tie building owner to green vow: Proposal to hold back completion paper
Telegraph | 30 January 2025
The state forest department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) are considering a proposal that a building’s completion certificate be issued only if the owner plants a certain number of saplings, as promised before getting the building permit, officials said.
Many plots have trees in such positions that they need to be felled to allow the construction of a building. A forest department rule stipulates that at least five saplings have to be planted for every tree felled.
Sources in the KMC said they often receive complaints of trees being felled without the consent of the civic body or the forest department to construct a building.
Plot owners get permission by promising to plant a certain number of saplings. But many of them get away by planting far fewer trees than promised.
“If an owner does not fulfil the promise of planting saplings, the building’s completion certificate can be held back. This will ensure the owner plants the promised number of saplings,” said a KMC official.
The lack of coordination between the KMC and the forest department came up for discussion at the meeting between the civic authorities and forest department officials on Wednesday.
“There are some gaps in the coordination between the forest department and the KMC. We often receive complaints of trees being felled without permission. We are trying to improve the coordination between the civic body and the forest department,” said a senior official of the KMC who attended the meeting.
“We want to integrate the forest department with this online system of approving building plans,” the official said.
The KMC has an online system for submitting building plans for approval. The KMC then obtains necessary permission from various state government departments, but any permission from the forest department still needs a physical visit to its offices.
“This delays the process. The two sides now want to get linked in the online system,” the KMC official said.
Civic sources said the forest department also proposed a rule making it mandatory for all future projects to reserve a part of the plot, irrespective of its size, to plant saplings.
According to KMC rules, projects with 20,000sq m floor area or more have to keep a part of the plot for greenery. “The forest department now wants us to implement the same rule for smaller plots,” said a KMC official.