Cabinet allows autonomous district councils to implement

The Meghalaya Cabinet has decided to empower the Autonomous District Councils in the state to implement the building bye-laws in areas outside the jurisdiction of the municipalities, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said.

The Autonomous District Councils in the state are - Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills.

The bye-laws which will be implemented by the three councils in their jurisdictions are the same building bye-laws which is being implemented by the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

"We have approved the proposal of handing over the task for granting building permission which is outside municipal area and inside master plan area to the three autonomous district councils," Tynsong told mediapersons after the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.

The decision to hand over charge to the councils was taken based on the demand from various quarters which include the traditional headmen, who vehemently opposed the implementation of the restrictions in new constructions by the state government through the MUDA, he said, adding that a notification in this regard will be issued soon.

While the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) have already submitted their draft building bye-laws to the government, the deputy chief minister said the same building byelaws implemented by the MUDA will be implemented by the three ADCs.

"We cannot have separate building bye-laws in all the three ADCs. We need to have one model or standard building bye-laws," he said.

The bye-laws are implemented to ensure that new buildings conforms to standard safety procedures considering that the hill state falls under an active seismic zone V, Tynsong said.

The process to hand over charge to the councils began when traditional institutions protested the bye-laws being implemented in areas outside the jurisdiction of the MUDA.

The state government had last year directed the district councils to submit the draft building bye-laws for regulating building constructions within their respective jurisdictions to the urban affairs department.