The Times of India               20.08.2013

Surat Municipal Corporation gets over 2.47 lakh application for property regularization

SURAT: Over 2.47 lakh property owners have submitted applications to Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to get their properties regularized under the provisions of the Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Act. The figure is likely to touch 2.70-lakh mark on Monday, the last day for submission of the applications. The number of applications submitted in Surat is more than that of Ahmedabad and Rajkot, sources said.

This is thanks to the massive awareness campaign launched by SMC. This figure was unimaginable 15 days ago. Workers and corporators of BJP, which controls the municipal corporation, also spread out in areas like Katargam and Limbayat and asked people to get their illegal constructions legalized.

Town development officer Manish Doctor said, "We will have to allot special time and persons for the job. We may even have to employ staff on contract to complete this job."

Structures of people who have submitted applications will not be demolished until they are disposed of.

"SMC will still remove constructions on road, reserved land and on water body etc," Doctor said.

The Town Planning (TP) department has so far processed 10,000 applications, Vijay Desai, a TP department official, said.

Municipal commissioner Manoj Das said, "These applications will be processed in a time-bound manner. The huge response is mainly due to the awareness campaign launched by the municipal corporation."