The Times of India             16.08.2013

1.58 lakh application for regularisation of illegal construction

AHMEDABAD: With just a few days left before the popular impact fee regulation seizes to exist, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has received a total of 1.58 lakh applications for regularization. This is fairly a low number against the initial estimate of the civic body when the regulation was introduced two years ago.

The AMC has regularized 8,916 properties till date. They also include illegal extensions to existing properties as well as extra floors constructed. When the impact fee regulation was introduced the AMC had expected an income of nearly Rs 105 crore after regularizing properties in the city.

However, after the scheme was proving to be costly the state government slashed the rates considerably, after which the AMC earned just Rs 15.94 crore as impact fee. Of the more than 1.58 lakh applications that were received by the municipal corporation, nearly 54,077 applications belong to the East zone alone, whereas 3,303 applications were recived from the central zone. Last week the AMC received 24,500 applications.