Fate of 50K illegal properties hangs in balance!

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

In a drastic measure to bring maximum properties under the ambit of tax, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) has decided to serve notices to illegal properties constructed in the Green Zones of the city. They will have to answer why they are not legalising their properties under Gunthewari Scheme.

The jurisdiction of CSMC has been divided into nine zones. Hence each zone has been instructed to serve show cause notices to the illegal properties (in Green Zone) existing in their respective jurisdictions, said the additional commissioner Saurabh Joshi.

Earlier, the civic administration has provided an opportunity to legalise properties built before December 2020 under Gunthewari Scheme at concessional rates. There was good response to it in the first phase, but when it was relaunched the scheme received poor response as the residents claimed that the regularisation charges were high and exorbitant. No concession has been offered in the charges.

The City Development Plan has not been built for the past many years. Following the rapid expansion of the city, the prices of the agricultural land situated on the outskirts of the city went up tremendously. Some alert farmers and land mafia got active and sold out the land by marking plots on it rampantly. As a result, many illegal settlements came up in Padegaon, Mitmita, Harsul, Jatwada Road, Chikalthana, Beed Bypass, Paithan Road etc. Accordingly, the burden of providing civic amenities to these residents fell upon the municipal corporation. Now, the civic administration has decided not to spend a single rupee on providing amenities to these areas.

As per the civic officials, in last two years, only 10,000 citizens availed benefit of Gunthewari Scheme. The CSMC collected an income of Rs 120 crore from them.

The additional commissioner said, “ Each zone office will conduct the survey to identify the number of illegal properties in their jurisdiction and then start issuing show cause notices to the concerned property-holders. If the administration finds the reply unsatisfactory then it will initiate action against them.”

Empanelment of architects

The municipal corporation will soon be forming a panel of architects so that people benefit under the scheme in large numbers. The file will be accepted through the architects only as it will help go through technicalities smoothly and speeds up the work, said Joshi.