Maintain the beauty of your building or ....

Soon maintaining the beauty of your building will be your responsibility. A Bill, aimed at boosting the aesthetics of cities by making it mandatory for owners and occupants to ensure that the exterior of a building is maintained well, has been introduced in the Maharashtra legislature during the ongoing winter session. “The Bill intends to make citizens more responsible for maintaining the external appearance of their house and that buildings are clean, neat and free from stains,” an official from the Urban Development department told a news agency at Nagpur. He said that this was an effort to sustain the “aesthetic harmony of the cities to ensure they get a clean look which can be maintained over the years,” he said, adding that the participation of citizens was important in the process. The Bill also empowers the commissioner of Municipal Corporations to evolve a scheme to maintain the aesthetic harmony and charge fine if the owner fails to maintain the required beauty of the building, he said. The Bill makes it mandatory for the occupant or owner to ensure that the exterior of the building is in good condition. The building should be devoid of cracks, stains, shabby enclosures or even cable wires that are left hanging, he said. The commissioner may send a notice to the people concerned if it is discovered that the exterior of the building is shabby after an inspection. It would be mandatory for owners to carry out the changes in line with what has been suggested by the commissioner. That needs to be done within 30 days, the official said. The owner of the building would be liable to pay the expenses incurred if he fails to make changes as per the notice. Interest at the rate of 2% on what has been incurred would be charged for ignoring the earlier warnings, said the official. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, City of Nagpur Corporation Act, 1948, and Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and the Industrial Townships Act, 1965, would need to be amended suitably to incorporate measures suggested in the Bill.