Illegal buildings in Kochi – any info?

Q: I hear that there have been a number of cases of building rules violations in Kochi lately. What do you guys know about this? Care to shed some light?

Vineet David, Kochi

18th July 2014

Neighborhood Issues in Aluva, Kochi

illegal constructions kochi

illegal building permits aluva

coastal regulation violations aluva kochi

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Replies (5)

Yes he’s right. This matter initially came to the attention of the authorities after they received a number of complaints about buildings in those localities which were violating all kinds of building rules. They were tipped off that the buildings were issued permits without even proper inspections done. On further investigation they discovered that many of those buildings have exceeding the floor limit and the area per floor limit. As a result the parking spaces were created a lot smaller than they were in the building plans. In some cases, there were no parking spaces at all.

Micheal George, Kochi

23rd July 2014

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What happened was the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB) had carried out a surprise inspection, which led them to a number of houses which were flouting regulations. The localities covered under the raid are Aluva, Angamaly, Kalamassery, Kothamangalam, Muvattupuzha, North Paravoor, Maradu, Perumbavoor, Thrikkakara and Tripunithura. What they did was, just inspect random buildings from each district. There were also cases of illegal construction noted other than building rule violations.

Maria Nair, Kochi

22nd July 2014

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As far as I know, there were also a number of flats at Judge mukku in Thrikkakara, where owners have occupied without obtaining an occupation certificate. I’m a broker myself, and I never let things like this happen in my dealings. Everybody should know by now that the certificate is extremely vital - a valid proof that you’re the legal owner to that property. What is funny is that the all these apartments have electricity connection, even though without OC, it is illegal.

Amal Anthony, Kochi

21st July 2014

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Yeah, I know. This building that you mentioned was actually built by filling in a lake, and so far the building plans of the complex failed to show any parking space allotment. There were other buildings also, a 4-storyed one in Aluva, and a 10 storyed one in Tripunithura. The former was built without any toilets, parking area or rainwater harvesting plans, and the latter was built just 4m away from the water front, whereas it should have been at least 100m away. Six commercial buildings in Thrikkakara were also flouting building rules.

Ganesh Nambiar, Kochi

19th July 2014

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Yes, actually you’ve heard right. A number of building rule violations and illegal properties have recently come to light. One of these happened in the Kudanoor district in Kochi. Its basically a 19 storyed apartment complex, which was violating building laws. You must all know that Kudanoor is a coastal regulation zone (CRZ), so any building here will have to follow the basically coastal regulation norms, which this particular building in question was flouting. There were other buildings like this as well. Does anyone know more?

Smitha Ravi, Kochi

18th July 2014

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