Aurangabad, Nov 24:
The extension of the deadline to regularise illegal properties under the Gunthewari Act proved fruitful for the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) as it collected a revenue of Rs 20.17 crore in the last couple of months.
The AMC has established a Gunthewari Cell and it has received proposals (files) of 2193 citizens, out of which, the cell has distributed certificates to 802 property-holders. Of the total revenue, the AMC collected Rs 10 crore in a span of just November. Three months ago, the AMC geared up to execute the Gunthewari Scheme. First, a panel of 51 architects were appointed to help the citizens in preparing their files (proposals) for the regularisation of their illegal property. The service rendered by these architects and engineers was free of cost. The AMC assured them of granting honorarium after the payment made by property-holders and approval of files. The Gunthewari Camps were also conducted in various parts of the city.
In the meantime, the AMC administrator announced implementing a drive to demolish illegal commercial properties before Diwali. The panicked citizens started rushing towards their nearest ward office to regularising their
properties. Later on, the guardian minister Subhash Desai intervened and stayed the drive.
It is believed that there would be more than 1 lakh illegal properties in the city. If all of them are brought on paper, the AMC exchequer may witness a collection of Rs 1,000 crore.
Meanwhile, the state Urban Development minister Eknath Shinde, who was in the city on Tuesday, has hinted at providing four instalment facilities for property-holders to pay the regularisation charges. Meanwhile, the eyebrows are being raised as a few years ago, the AMC had offered an instalment facility, but the citizens after paying money as per the first challan and would never ever return to pay the second instalment.