Deccan Chronicle 22.02.2010

Hyderabad, Feb. 21: The recent decision of the state government to extend the last date for disposal of the Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) turns out to be a boon for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) after it got a raw deal in the state Budget for 2010-2011.

The civic body had requested the government to allocate nearly Rs 700 crore for it in the state Budget, but got only Rs 73 crore. Now, the corporation has set a target of collecting at least Rs 400 crore by disposing of the pending BPS applications.

The government on Wednesday issued G.O. Ms No. 76 stating that the date has been extended

strictly for disposal of “pending applications” only and that no fresh or new applications should be accepted. The government order also came with a rider that after June 30, none of the pending BPS applications should be disposed of.

A senior GHMC official confirmed that the last date for clearing pending BPS applications is June 30.

The GHMC received 2.03 lakh BPS applications and out of this the officials have been able to clear only 87,000 till date. Another 35,000 applications were declared “ineligible for regularisation” as they were found to have been constructed on government, Wakf, Urban Land Ceiling and endowment lands.

“The financial position of the GHMC is precarious. Though we expected reasonable allocations for the civic body in the State Budget, what has been given is meagre. The best alternative to raise revenues now is to ensure that all BPS applications are cleared. It is a challenge as not all the applicants are coming forward for regularisation proceedings. But we will do it,” a GHMC official said.

The GHMC town planning officials will visit the BPS applicants and ask them to pay penalisation charges for disposal of applications.