By The Hindu Bureau

Copyright thehindu

The Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC) has urged the government to revise the Nilgiris district master plan to favour locals and place restrictions on outsiders “in the long term interest of the district.”

“The master plan, which was mooted 40 years ago to protect the local people and prevent outsiders, has in reality been acting against the local people and in favour outsiders,” said Venugopal Dharmalingam, honorary director of the NDC, who called for a moratorium to be declared on all building applications from outsiders till the applications from locals are looked into.

Mr. Dharmalingam stated that when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa assumed office in 1991, one of her first actions was to declare a moratorium on constructions in the Nilgiris, followed in 1993 by the announcement of a master plan for the Nilgiris, one of the first in the State.

“However, over the past 30 years, the implementation of the plan has led to widespread corruption, unrestricted access to outside real estate interests and misery to the local people. The mindless permission for outsiders to build on dangerous slopes has endangered the whole district. Majority of the builders from outside the Nilgiris have violated the building rules and norms. Unrestricted access to outside investors will endanger the plantations and slopes of the district,” the NDC added.

A master plan should be for the benefit of the local environment and the people. The government should declare a single window clearance for local applications and take a long term view of allowing unrestricted access to outside builders in the interest of the environmental stability of this fragile district, Mr. Dharmalingam added.