Baglung, July 27:

Baglung Municipality, in contravention of the National Building Construction Code, is all set to approve construction of buildings with more than 1000 square feet of floor area on 20 plots of land.

This move came to light after the Town Development and Building Construction Department (TDBCD), district divisional office, Baglung, the body authorised by the Construction Code to approve construction of building with 1000 sq ft or more floor area, denied its involvement in approving the construction.

Acting head of the TDBCD, Kosh Nath Adhikari, said the office has not received any notification from the municipality that it has approved construction of such buildings and that it has not recieved any recommendation seeking approval.

He said he would discuss the matter with the municipality authorities. However, planning and administrative officer of the Baglung Municipality, Yukta Prasad Subedi, said the municipality is going to approve construction of the buildings because it could not be suspended until the municipality and building department reach an agreement on making policy on the related issue and implement it.

Subedi stressed on the need of formation of a monitoring team with representation from both the offices, for implementation of the code. Last year, the Baglung Municipality approved construction of 89 buildings of which 69 had flood area exceeding 1000 sq ft, the municipality said.