AMC’S civic abc…

The mosque is a Centrally-protected monument but that doesn’t make any difference to AMC. Construction is going on despite a blanket ban on any construction within 100 metres of Centrally-protected monuments.

The structure coming up in Sardar Park will have a built-up area of 271 square metres and will cost Rs 18.5 lakh. Though this proposal was considered by four different agencies, it didn’t occur to even one that ASI approval was needed.

The proposal was mooted by Additional City Engineer K.H. Shah and the Municipal Commissioner approved it on April 24 without checking if ASI permission was obtained or not.

On May 27, the Roads and Buildings committee gave its nod and forwarded it to the standing committee which cleared it on June 26 after some dilly-dallying — none of it was lack of ASI permission.

Even the Municipal General Board, which met on July 29, cleared the proposal with no questions asked.

Mayor Aneesa Mirza admits that she knew of the proposal and that she got it passed knowing fully well that it was in contravention of the Centre’s rules. ‘‘Yes, I approved it but it was under abnormal conditions in the general board,’’ she said. What conditions? Uproar at the meeting due to the riverfront development project controversy. But she said she would write to the Municipal Commissioner to get the centre shifted.

Roads and Buildings committee chairperson Jaishreeben Shah had no idea of the ASI permission or norms regarding monuments. ‘‘The permission may have been obtained…I don’t know…I can tell you after inquiring,’’ she said. She admitted to chairing the meeting where the proposal was approved.

Central Government’s secretary (Culture) Dhanendra Kumar was surprised over the construction. ‘‘I will issue instructions to the ASI director-general to look into this and will definitely take action,’’ he said. He denied that ASI was a toothless body which could do nothing beyond issuing notices to local bodies where rules were flouted. ‘‘ASI has recently demolished an officers club in DDA here,’’ he said.

While Municipal Commissioner R.K. Tripathy refused to comment, standing committee chairman Jayantilal Parmar said his team was concerned with passing contracts and was not responsible for scrutinising other aspects. ‘‘What are civic departments for?’’ he retorted when asked if the committee had ensured that due ASI permission was obtained before approving the construction.