A day after the BBMP Council announced betterment charges to regularise revenue land, it drastically cut the rates.

The reduction is aimed at appeasing voters ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, due in about three months.

Payment of betterment charges entitles citizens to obtain ‘A’ khatas (or ownership deeds), which then makes them eligible for loans. On Tuesday, the council had approved betterment charges of `350 a square metre for plots up to 1,000 square metres and `300 for plots measuring more than 1,000 square metres.

On Wednesday, the council passed a resolution slashing the rates to `200 for old areas (100 wards) and `250 for new areas (recently-added 98 wards). Councillors across party lines welcomed the decision.

Some councillors suggested the charges be collected from individual site owners and not from bulk land owners. “That way the BBMP gets more revenue,” Kacharakanahalli councillor Padmanabha Reddy said.

BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana did not agree. “Once land is carved up into sites, we cannot levy betterment charges for roads and CA sites. In the case of bulk land, we can collect money for every inch,” he said. 

Bulk land owners pay a fee to convert agricultural land into residential and commercial sites. “Once the owner gets a khata and decides to develop a layout, he will have to get the Bangalore Development Authority’s clearance and pay them their charges as well,” Lakshminarayana said.

When individual site owners build houses, they pay for plan approval, he added.

The government has notified draft rules for the Akrama-Sakrama bill, and the last date for submitting objections is Thursday.

“We were not informed. The BBMP Council has not got an opportunity to discuss the bill. We want to have a say,” councillor Padmanabha Reddy said.

He urged a special meeting to discuss the long-awaited bill. “Let us meet District-in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy and request him to extend the last date,” he said.