Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

People still hope for BPS extension

VIJAYAWADA: The Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) came to a close on December 31 last year. Now, the big question before the applicants and Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) alike is: Whether the State government will extend the last date for it?

The corporation could not clear close to 4,000 applications under the scheme for various reasons, including poor response from the public, who pinned hopes that the government would invariably extend the last date.

Yet, the bankers have, the VMC officials say, not issued the Demand Drafts (DDs) in view of last working day on December 31.

Many applicants, in December last, were ready to pay the balance amount and waited till the fag end but could not draw the DDs.

Though, some applicants now were making rounds in the corridors of the VMC for regularisation of deviations in their buildings, the corporation was unable to take any action as the scheme came to a close, officials say.

According to information, the corporation officials were also anticipating the extension in view of poor response to the scheme in many municipalities across the State. The government extended the last date on a couple of occasions so as to facilitate the municipalities to take the scheme to a logical end. Many municipalities and municipal corporations in the State could not collect even 30 per cent of the penal amount under the scheme. As the situation did not improve, more or less, the municipalities and corporations expected that the government would extend the deadline of the scheme.

In a way, the extension of last date helped the VMC to sort out the applications even while it slapped an additional 25 per cent on property tax on those who failed to get their buildings regulated under the scheme. Notwithstanding repeated appeals from the Corporation, some the applicants waited for extension of last date.

More revenue

Of the total applications pending, at least 2,000 applications would be eligible for regulation of the deviations. The Corporation would receive another Rs. 5 crore to Rs. 7 crore if these applications were sorted out. In all, the VMC received 15,826 applications. Of this, 11,080 applications were sorted out, and the Corporation pocketed more than Rs. 44 crore under the scheme so far.

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