According to a new report by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), in last two years, the city has witnessed a growth of about 200% in the number of sanctioned layouts for residential plots.
The report said, “38 layouts were sanctioned by the civic body in 2016 that got increased to 63 in 2017 and 85 in 2018. On the other hand, it was just 28-45 in 2011-2015.”
The authority further said that in the last three months, another 36 plot layout has got approval.
Elaborating more on the report, a senior CMDA official said, “In between 2016-18, the approval of independents plots has risen to nearly three times. In 2016, it was 2075, which increased to 4867 in 2017and 6115 in 2018. Also talking about this year, in the first three months we have approved 1832 individual plots.”
Welcoming this move, urban planners from the city said that in the last few years, the number of unregistered and illegal plots have increased many folds. So, this step by the CMDA will help in solving the problem of illegal encroachment on the fertile land.
The above step is also taken after Madras High court entered into the whole scenario a few months ago. It ordered the state government to take strict action against the illegal authorization of farmland. In answer to this, the government asked the authority to approve only those layouts that were adhering regulations such as the development of parks, roads, proper garbage disposal, embarking open space to the authority, etc. The move has also helped unscrupulous developers to stay away from such an illegal approach.