Bhubaneswar: The Housing & Urban Development (H&UD) Minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra revealed on Tuesday that 11,806 houses in Bhubaneswar were constructed without legal clearance. This was disclosed in a written response during the Legislative Assembly session.
Between 2018 and 2019, 7,223 of these houses were successfully regularised through an amnesty scheme. An additional 4,583 homes remain to be regularised. The information was provided in response to a query from Congress MLA Ashok Das.
Unauthorised building plans caused Rs 48 crore revenue loss to BMC between 2015 and 2023. BMC demolished 191 structures in 2024 under government orders, while BDA initiated 491 cases.
Illegal constructions stem from builder malpractice (abandoning projects post-sales), jurisdictional shifts from panchayats to BMC, and encroachment on water bodies causing drainage issues. Five to 10 percent of buildings alone hold occupancy certificates.
Bhubaneswar has 191 demolition-ordered structures under BDA jurisdiction and 1,444 BMC-registered cases. Of these, 63 BDA cases were dropped, 237 remain sub-judice, while BMC resolved 451 cases with 993 still pending.
A 2024 report revealed 689 of Odisha’s 719 illegal apartments are in Bhubaneswar.
Illegal constructions primarily involve unauthorised land use (35% cases), building plan deviations (28%), lack of fire safety certifications (22%), and environmental clearance violations (15%).
Key obstacles include: 237 cases sub-judice in courts, builders absconding after sales (42% of cases), BMC’s Rs 18 crore compensation requirement for demolition, and identification of 147 suspected benami properties.
