After being pulled up by the State Urban Development minister, officials of the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority have started a drive to mark unauthorised constructions and related violations in areas under the purview of the authority in Dehradun and Mussoorie. However, shortage of staff is one of the factors which continue to prevent the authority from carrying out its mandate efficiently.
It is worth mentioning here that the MDDA is often accused of turning a blind eye to the rising number of unauthorised constructions and encroachments in the area under its purview.
The authority officials have themselves admitted that the connivance of MDDA engineers in facilitating such anomalies cannot be ruled out in addition to which the shortage of staff is also a factor affecting the efficiency of the authority. Recently, the State Urban Development minister Pritam Singh Panwar pulled up the MDDA officials and directed the sealing of an unauthorised resort on the outskirts of Dehradun that he glimpsed while travelling in a helicopter.
Since then, the minister has repeatedly reviewed the work of the authority and sought effective action against unauthorised constructions.
The authority has now started a drive to mark unauthorised constructions with its engineers and supervisors being told to remain out in the field and mark unauthorised constructions.
Talking to The Pioneer, MDDA secretary Banshidhar Tiwari said that the authority officials had started a drive to mark unauthorised constructions on Wednesday.
“In addition to undertaking this drive, we also sealed a commercial complex on Dl Road on Wednesday as the building map approved for the site was for residential purpose and not commercial.” Regarding the shortage of staff in the authority, Tiwari said, “At present one engineer is looking after two sectors each. We have a total of 12 sectors to look after and only seven engineers with us,” he said.
Observers point out that appointing the required number of engineers and other staff in the MDDA would help in making the authority more efficient. Unplanned urbanisation and unauthorised constructions are considered to be among the major factors responsible for the degeneration of the environment and level of civic facilitation in Dehradun which was once famous for its environment.