Nagpur: Following two consecutive TOI reports exposing the regulatory hurdles faced by Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) own headquarters, civic administration has initiated the process for obtaining the building’s long-pending occupancy certificate (OC) and final fire compliance certificate.Municipal commissioner Vipin Itankar told TOI that NMC has started the process for procuring both certificates and assigned the task to town planning department in-charge and officiating deputy director of town planning Ruturaj Jadhav.“We have started the process to procure the occupancy certificate and fire compliance certificate,” Itankar said.Jadhav told TOI that his department had begun examining all documents pertaining to the seven-storey administrative building. “We will comply with all laid-down norms by fulfilling all mandatory processes,” he said.The move comes after TOI’s Saturday report highlighted that NMC’s ₹56.34-crore headquarters, despite being occupied since April 2013, does not have a full OC or final fire compliance certificate. The report also highlighted that the building has A and B fire certificates, certifying installation and working condition of the firefighting system, respectively, but not the final fire compliance clearance.Sunday’s TOI report subsequently detailed a fresh set of hurdles before the civic body, including plan deviations, absence of side margins on two sides, basement slope issues and environmental-clearance complications.The building’s environmental-clearance issue is particularly significant because its built-up area is understood to be around 42,000 sq m, well above the 20,000-sq-m threshold requiring environmental clearance. Sources had said the case was being treated as a violation under the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006.Jadhav said NMC would examine all such requirements as part of the certification process. He, however, pointed out that the civic body, being a govt institution, would get certain relaxations in environmental-clearance requirements while procuring the OC.“The govt has given some relaxation in the norms for govt buildings,” Jadhav said.TOI had also reported that the building has no side margin available on two sides and that the basement slope does not conform to prescribed Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR) requirements. Several changes were also made to the original sanctioned plan, including alterations in the use of floors originally earmarked for civic functions.Fire officials had earlier said final fire compliance certificate was pending because of structural changes. Sources had pointed to several deviations, including the Command and Operation Centre being created in a space sanctioned as a hall. The approach to the terrace was also reportedly blocked by a wall, while both emergency staircases were obstructed by air-cooler ducts.The building, approved in 2003 at an estimated cost of Rs17.99 crore, stands on a 22,780.46 sq m plot and is 36 metres high, with a B+G+7 configuration.
