The Hindu : Front Page : 4,500 unapproved plots regularised

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Thursday, Jan 03, 2008
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4,500 unapproved plots regularised

S. Ganesan

Tiruchi Corporation has raked in Rs.9.38 crore
7,443 applications are received

TIRUCHI: Nearly 4,500 unapproved plots in the city have been regularised under the one-time drive for regularisation which closed on December 31.

The Tiruchi Corporation has raked in Rs.9.38 crore by way of regularisation fee under the drive. The success of the scheme is largely attributed to the simplified procedure and the reduced fee of Rs.5 per square feet for plots registered after January 1, 1980 and Re.1 for those registered earlier.

Though the scheme was originally supposed to close by 2006, the Government in May 2007 had extended it till the year end. The extension of the scheme has brought in an additional revenue of Rs.1.73 crore.

Till the end of December 2006, the Corporation had netted Rs.7.65 crore, civic body sources told The Hindu. The revenue generated under the scheme is being maintained under a separate head and will be used only for providing basic amenities to the regularised plots.

The Corporation has received 7,443 applications under the scheme. Of them, 4,492 unapproved plots were regularised and the rest were rejected as they failed to fulfil the norms of the scheme. The reasons for the rejection were varied.

Sources pointed out though the scheme was extended till December 2007, the cut off date for the registration of plots (that were eligible for regularisation) had been retained as July 25, 2006. Had the cutoff date been extended, more plots could have been regularised.

Besides, many applications had to be rejected as they were not located in layouts with a minimum width of 16 feet. There were several well developed layouts with just 10 to 12 feet of road width. Owners of unapproved plots in such layouts could not benefit from the scheme.

Tiruchi and a few other Corporations had last year made a representation to the Government seeking relaxation of this norm. But the Government’s response was still awaited.

The civic body has identified about 8,486 unapproved plots in the city in about 157 layouts. Corporation sources observed that the remaining 1,000-odd plots were mostly owned by investors and many of them were residing outside the city.

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