The Hindu 15.03.2011
MCD to penalise illegal farmhouses, hike charges
In a bid to rein in illegal farmhouses in the Capital being put to
commercial use for weddings and other social functions, the Municipal
Corporation of Delhi is planning to levy a penalty on them and also hike
the booking charges for such events in registered farmhouses in its
area.
A proposal in this regard would also be tabled at the
meeting of the MCD Standing Committee on Wednesday following the MCD
Commissioner’s earlier suggestion to hike the rates.
According to the proposal, farmhouses below 0.5 acre but
not exceeding 2.5 acre would be charged Rs.20,000 as against existing
rate of Rs.10,000.
For plots above 2.5 acre but not exceeding 5 acre, the
charges would be Rs.40, 000 as against the current charge of Rs.20,000.
Farmhouses over five acres would have to pay Rs.1 lakh.
In addition, illegal farmhouses would now have to shell
out a penalty of 10 times the amount of rent charged on them for
bookings by the MCD. Consequently, illegal farmhouses paying a rent of
Rs.20,000, Rs.40,000 and Rs.I lakh depending on their area would now
have to cough up a penalty of Rs.2 lakh, Rs.4 lakh and Rs.10 lakh
respectively.
According to MCD Standing Committee chairman Yogender
Chandolia, about 1,500 to 2,000 farmhouses are presently running
illegally in about six of the MCD’s 12 zones including Central Zone,
South Zone and Civil Lines and Narela Zone. “Only about 50 odd
farmhouses have registered themselves with the MCD and have been
regularised rest all are running illegally due to a nexus involving
officials and the police. To check this we have decided to impose a
tough penalty on owners of such farmhouses based on their area.”
“The problem in Delhi is that since there are not enough
community centres to hold weddings and other such functions so people
are forced to host them in farmhouses. Since we cannot stop that from
happening by sealing these farmhouses we can at least try to charge them
a hefty penalty to increase the MCD’s revenue and also encourage their
owners to get their farmhouses registered,” he added.
