Construction of buildings up to seven storeys within Imphal Municipal Corporation (IMC) limits has been allowed by the Manipur government.
Earlier, buildings in the IMC area were restricted to three storeys only.
Informing the decision, Manipur urban development minister Th Shyamkumar on Sunday said, “The decision has been taken after due consultation with experts and architects.”
“This was necessitated to relieve pressure on the agricultural lands lying in the outskirts of Imphal,” he added.
“Buildings up to seven storeys can now be built in the IMC limits but only after obtaining of permits,” he further said.
An area of around 34.48 sq kilometres in Imphal East and West districts is covered by IMC.
The minister further infomred that limit in heights of the buildings led to the horizontal expansion of the construction and this created more pressure on land.
“The builders must follow all the safety procedures and laws during the constructions as Manipur lies in a seismic zone,” Shyamkumar added.
“Since the occurrence of earthquakes in Manipur is frequent, the buildings will have to be earthquake resistant,” Shyamkumar further said.
“Designs of the buildings will have to be approved by the registered structural agencies,” he added.
Even though there were limits on the construction of buildings beyond three storeys, norms were flouted rampantly to construct buildings beyond the permissible limit.