Amnesty scheme fails to attract house owners

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Bhubaneswar: The state government’s Sarbakhyama Yojana or amnesty scheme to regularise unauthorised structures in urban areas has failed to attract residents who had constructed buildings, residential as well as commercial, by deviating from the original plans approved by their respective civic bodies.
The amnesty scheme permits people to regularise their unauthorised structures by paying certain amounts of monetary penalties (compounding fees) to the nine development authorities, set up by the Urban Development department. The scheme was launched June 20, this year and it will be in force for six months.
According sources in the Urban Development Department, not a single application form for the scheme has been received from any resident coming under the development authorities of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Puri-Konark, Paradip, Kalinganagar and Talcher-Angul-Meramundali.
“We will initiate stern action against all unauthorised structures coming under the nine development authorities if the residents do not regularise their buildings constructed illegally within the specified period,” said an official of the Urban Development Department.
However, many house owners have claimed that the compounding fees fixed by the civic authorities are too high. Moreover, the state government has not taken adequate steps to make people aware of the amnesty scheme.
As per the scheme, people who have constructed buildings and parking lots beyond their authorised land in localities coming under municipal corporations are supposed to pay 40 per cent more than the value of the land to regularise the unauthorised structure.
People residing in municipality areas are bound to pay 30 more than the land value as fines to regularise their unauthorised structure. The penalty rates have been fixed at 20 per cent more than the land value in localities coming under Notified Area Councils and 10 per more than the land value in rural areas.
As per the scheme, people can regularise their unauthorised structures by submitting applications along with the required penalties and no objection certificates (NOCs) from fire brigade and other authorities. The state government would regularise the anauthorised structures if they does not create any inconvenience to the public.