Agencies:

Mayor seals office of Joint Commissioner, wants him removed

Srinagar
November 5, 2020

Acting Mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation Parvaiz Qadri on Wednesday sealed the office of the Joint Commissioner, Planning, at the civic body, accusing the head of the section for delaying building permissions to applicants leading to mushrooming illegal constructions.

�Yes, I have locked the office of Joint Commissioner, Planning. This officer is not fit to head such a crucial wing of the corporation,� Qadri said. He said he had already written to the Government twice to remove the officer.

�As per the mandate of law, the SMC is bound to issue building permission within two weeks but most of the cases have been pending with this section for months together,� he alleged.

As seeking legal permission has become cumbersome since Ghulam Hassan Mir was posted as Joint Commissioner, Planning, the number of illegal constructions in the city had gone up, he claimed.

�An IAS officer was granted building permission within 15 days. That�s the only achievement of this officer. Ordinary people have to wait for months,� he added. Mir did not respond to repeated calls to seek his comment.