The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Long wait for DDs, stamp papers on the eve of BPS closure

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Long wait for DDs, stamp papers on the eve of BPS closure

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: Lengthy queues, impatient customers and helpless bank officials. That was the common sight in several banks in the city on Monday. With the deadline for paying penalty under the Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) fast approaching, harried building owners queued up in large numbers in banks for demand drafts.

Citizens had to wait for two to three hours to obtained DDs to be paid to the municipal authorities. With the scheme closing on Tuesday, the government was allowing submission of forms even without one or two crucial documents, but at least part payment of penal fee was a must, making it mandatory to take the DDs.

“I was given a token and asked to come back after two hours to collect the DD,” said B. Ravinder, a building owner. Many went through the same experience having had to spend a good part of their day running around to source for documents. “I thought it would be a 15-minute affair, but I was shocked to see a big queue and had to apply half-day leave,” said Sridhar, another applicant.

Bank officials, while denying any delay in issuing the DDs said that there has been a heavy demand for DDs from various quarters. The demand is said to have increased from the last week with the BPS scheme deadline drawing close.

Demand by students

Then, there was a rush by the students applying for the SSC supplementary examination to obtain the drafts for paying the fees. “We have issued more than 800 DDs today just for SSC students alone today,” exclaimed a nationalised bank official.

Not only DDs, there was a sudden surge in demand for stamp papers too because of this regularisation deadline. With demand outstripping supply and also short supply, vendors were selling them at twice the cost. “ The demand has gone up almost four times, I sold around 600 stamp papers since morning while on a normal day it would be around 100-200 stamp papers,” said G. Ramchandra, a vendor.

In fact, a BPS format notarised indemnity bond has been in circulation for the last few months, ever since the scheme came into vogue following heavy demand.

The Rs. 100 document was being sold at various prices ranging between Rs. 150 to Rs. 250.

“People don’t mind shelling out extra money as long as their work gets done,” observed a vendor, raking in the moolah.

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