ORIGIN OF BUILDING RULES Origin means The point

ORIGIN OF BUILDING RULES

• Origin means The point or place where some thing begins , arises • Development control is a process by which the planned development is achieved. • For effective development control, scrutiny and disposal of Building Applications and prompt action against the unauthorised constructions and deviations from approved plans in violation of Rules and Regulations is very essential. • This will avoid many legal complications also.

• Today, town and country planning , in its broadest sense would mean the definition of a desirable objective for community living which is realised through the operation under public controls of coordinated programmes for physical, social and economic improvements of the urban areas. • Its history is the history of mans changing attitude towards his shelter , his means of livelihood and his leisture time. Although many of the tools of planning remain essentially the same as they were thousands of years ago.

• From about the middle of the 19 th century, town and country planning has been accepted, although not always practiced as a separate and official function of the government in many countries of the world. • For over eight hundred years our country faced devastating foreign invasions and innumerable wars amoung several cities and human settlements were razed to the ground through fire and various other means and rose again many times.

• During this period , the population of these settlements were more worried for their personal safety and existence , rather than about finer aspects of their life and environments. • For over hundred years the britishers who came to our country as traders were busy consolidating their own power and ultimately in the year 1858 A. D. Queen Victoria was crowned to be the empress of India which became a part of the British Empire. With this , normalcy was restored in the Country.

• With the return of citizens, the cities and towns were once again active with life. The lack of peace and security , which prevailed for centuries made our people forget totally their ancient wisdom and culture.

• We looked to our foreign rulers for anything and everything and gratefully accepted what all they cared to give. We also took pride in imitating what all they did. • They came as traders and till they left our country in 1947 , they subjected our country to economic exploitation. With the increase of economic exploitation, our cities , especially the ones blessed with port facilities and the ones which became the seats of the provincial governments, were rapidly growing in size with no control on land building developments. • The ruling class lived in parts of the cities and towns, orderly developed with wide roads and avenues, luxuriouds open spaces and palatial manslons.

• The natives of the soil were confined to live in centres of congestion and squalor filled with sub standard dwellings with no basic amenities required for urban life. • The outbreak of indigenous and important epidemics became recurring features in these areas. The rulers had to defend heavily to check for treating the ones affected by these epidemics. • Before long , they have realisied that the out break of epidemics can be checked to acertain extent by recurring clean and healthy environment in and around the dwellings. • With the full realization of the importance of environment in and around the dwellings.

• With the full realisation of the importance of environmental hygiene, as one of several measures, during the last quarter of 19 th Century , the building regulations were introduced by the government for enforcement by the local bodies of the towns and cities of our Country. • Till 1941 these building rules with little changes were being enforced in the municipal towns of Madras presidency. In 1942, the old rules, which were insufficient to meet the growing needs of the urban society, were suitably modified and issued for enforcement.

• Except for a few essential additions and verbal changes, the building rules 1942 (which form part of the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Act 1964)are subsequently same as the Building Rules do not prescribe optimum requirements. • It is not possible to think in such terms , till it becomes possible to secure atleast minimum of the basic needs for buildings of every kind in the existing thickly builtup areas of the towns.

• In general , the principles of prevailing Planning law will be effective and useful only after a Master Plan or a Detailed Town Planning Scheme is prepared , published and got sanctioned for each town by the government and implemented. • Till then it is inevitable to enforce the building rules in the old built-up areas of our cities and towns. • Every one should understand that these Building Rules in our Municipal Towns are not intended to secure ideal planning standards , but are essentially meant for saving our towns and cities from further deteriaoration and congestion.