The Deccan Chronicle 10.11.2010
Melas to clear pending applicationsNov. 9: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has decided to conduct special melas between November 11 and 15 to clear the pending Building Penalisation Scheme applications. Applicants can get regularisation certificates from the circle offices of the GHMC after submission of relevant documents and payment of the final installment of penalisation charges. The BPS melas will function even on second Saturday and Sunday.
There are about 40,000 applications — pertaining to deviations and unauthorised buildings — pending with the GHMC for the past two years. For all such applicants, this is the last opportunity to obtain regularisation proceedings as the BPS will come to an end on November 15.
Neither is the GHMC seeking an extension, nor is the government in a mood to extend the BPS deadline. The GHMC chief city planner, Mr G.V. Raghu, said the government has empowered the GHMC to levy 200 per cent more property tax and also four-times the land value on which the deviated structure or unauthorised building is constructed. The last step will be demolition of unauthorised buildings, he said.
The GHMC has already raised Rs 604 crore towards through BPS by regularising and clearing 1.20 lakh applications in the last two years. Of the total 2.02 lakh applications submitted, over 40,000 were set aside as “not eligible under BPS.”
“Currently, there are 40,000 applications pending with us and we hope to raise another Rs 50 crore. Of the 40,000 applications, as many as 14,500 have all the required documents. Applicants just need to pay the final instalment of BPS charges and take home regularisation certificates.
The remaining applicants need to submit some more documents along with final BPS installment charges,” the GHMC additional chief city planner, Mr S. Balakrishna, said. He added that except penthouses and high rise building applications, the GHMC is confident of clearing all the pending BPS cases.
