Non-Submission Of Occupancy Certificates; GMC Issues Notices To 15 Private Hospitals

Guwahati: For the third time in five months, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has served notices upon certain private hospitals/nursing homes in the city, seeking submission of occupancy certificates.

The hospitals have been given seven days' time to submit the occupancy certificates.

The GMC had directed 61 private hospitals within its area to submit occupancy certificates in October last year. It was mentioned in the relevant notice that the occupancy certificates were being sought for "record keeping" and "further verification purposes."

Thirty hospitals had responded to the first notice and submitted certificates to the GMC.

Following the issuance of a second notice, 16 more private health care establishments submitted occupancy certificates. However, 15 hospitals have failed to submit occupancy certificates and consequently the GMC has issued a third notice in that regard. It is alleged in this context that many private health care establishments do not have the required occupancy certificates.

It may be mentioned that an occupancy certificate is issued after an application is submitted to the planning branch of GMC along with required documents. After receipt of the application, a field engineer inspects the construction of the building in question and submits a report, based on which the certificate is issued.

The criteria based on which the certificate is issued include the existence of a rain water harvesting provision and the availability of parking space in the area provided as per drawing of building plans. The building must also have provisions for segregation of waste and hand over of waste to authorized NGOs. The criteria further includes plantation of a minimum of 10 evergreen trees inside the plot.

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