Up to 7 storeyed buildings permissible, says IMC

    15-May-2019
By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, May 14: Apart from making necessary pre-parations to create a draft building bye law in order to enact a proper Building Bye Law for areas covered by Imphal Municipal Corpo-ration (IMC), the corporation has decided to allow cons-truction of buildings having upto 7 storeys in the said areas.
According to a source, the decision to create the draft Imphal Municipal Corporation building bye law 2019 has been adopted to ensure that individuals who wish to construct multi storeyed buildings and structures inside the areas covered by IMC, follow proper safety guidelines.
Stating that the draft bye law was already approved by the State Cabinet in March, the source mentioned that it could not put into effect as the model code of conduct came into force in connection with the Lok Sabha election.
However, MAHUD Department has made all necessary preparations to table the draft building bye law and the Government Press has been tasked with publishing the said item, the source added.
IMC has a total of 27 wards which cover 34.48 sq Kms in both Imphal East and Imphal West. It also has a population of around 2.5 lakhs.
The source continued that the presence of a building bye law for IMC is crucial when it comes to successful implementation of projects such as AMRUT and Smart City Project.
Absence of building bye laws can even hinder sanctioning of funds for different projects, the source explained.
As soon as the  draft Imphal Municipal Corporation building bye law 2019 is put in public domain, people's feedback will be collected over a period of 15 days at the minimum.
The source further conveyed that various experts were also consulted at the time of drafting the building bye law and during those meetings, representatives of Manipur Architect Forum were also present as well.
As per the building bye law, construction of G-7 buildings will be allowed in the areas covered by IMC, albeit only in some selected sites.
The areas covered by IMC should be properly categorised as residential, commercial, institutional, security zone etc and if anyone wishes to construct a building or structure,  they should obtain a No Objection Certificate from Town Planning Department.
This can be done on-line, the source added.
Even if G-7 buildings are allowed in IMC areas, it will be prohibited in security zones and during construction of any buildings, it will be mandatory to properly plan all necessary components/systems like proper drainage and sanitation, proper routes/roads, presence of open areas, presence of rain water harvesting areas, cyclone and earthquake protection, fire safety etc.
It may be mentioned that proper planning is done as per such bye laws in other States during construction of new cities. But for Manipur, many buildings are constructed without any such regulations. As such, the presence of such a bye law is the need of the hour in Manipur as well, the source added.