BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation has come under the scanner for allegedly flouting building regulation norms while constructing the police commissioner's office here.
Kalinga Sena raised the issue before mediapersons here on Thursday, a day before chief minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to inaugurate the four-storied palatial building.
The Rs 20-crore structure has been built on a sprawling 1.20 lakh sq ft area with splendid architecture and design. The new office of the twin city police commissioner is bigger than the state police headquarters at Cuttack.
"The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has not approved the building plan," Hemant Rath, chief of Kalinga Sena, said. "We have seen private construction companies violating BDA norms. It is shocking to know that the state-run agency gave the law a go-by," Rath said.
The corporation's CMD Sudhanshu Sarangi rebuffed the allegations. "The BDA approved our building plan on September 2, 2010," Sarangi said. He, however, admitted the corporation had not applied for approval of its plan before starting construction. "We started the construction work in August 2009. At that time we did not obtain BDA's approval. We applied for the plan's approval the same month and got it in September 2010," Sarangi said.
He said BDA set some conditions and asked the corporation to deposit certain compounding fee for flouting its norms. "We have requested the BDA to tell us the amount we need to pay as compounding fee," Sarangi said. He parried questions on why the corporation did not apply for plan approval before starting construction. It is mandatory for government and private organizations to get their building plans approved by BDA before starting construction work.
Defending the corporation, Sarangi told journalists, "A number of government offices, including the state secretariat have not adhered to the building rules and regulations as those came into existence much after the buildings were constructed."
Kalinga Sena raised the issue before mediapersons here on Thursday, a day before chief minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to inaugurate the four-storied palatial building.
The Rs 20-crore structure has been built on a sprawling 1.20 lakh sq ft area with splendid architecture and design. The new office of the twin city police commissioner is bigger than the state police headquarters at Cuttack.
"The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has not approved the building plan," Hemant Rath, chief of Kalinga Sena, said. "We have seen private construction companies violating BDA norms. It is shocking to know that the state-run agency gave the law a go-by," Rath said.
The corporation's CMD Sudhanshu Sarangi rebuffed the allegations. "The BDA approved our building plan on September 2, 2010," Sarangi said. He, however, admitted the corporation had not applied for approval of its plan before starting construction. "We started the construction work in August 2009. At that time we did not obtain BDA's approval. We applied for the plan's approval the same month and got it in September 2010," Sarangi said.
He said BDA set some conditions and asked the corporation to deposit certain compounding fee for flouting its norms. "We have requested the BDA to tell us the amount we need to pay as compounding fee," Sarangi said. He parried questions on why the corporation did not apply for plan approval before starting construction. It is mandatory for government and private organizations to get their building plans approved by BDA before starting construction work.
Defending the corporation, Sarangi told journalists, "A number of government offices, including the state secretariat have not adhered to the building rules and regulations as those came into existence much after the buildings were constructed."
