Unauthorised structures: Few takers for ‘impact fee’ offer as deadline nears

The drive for taking applications was going slack in these cities until last month when the majority of applications poured in.

In Ahmedabad,out of the 2,800 applications received till July 30,a minuscule of 30 applications have been cleared thus far,town development officer Rajesh Patel says,adding that at the most,another 2,000 applications might come against an estimated 40,000 properties that can apply. According to him,the drive might fetch the state coffers Rs 20 crore.

In Vadodara 1,500 applications have been received out of which 500 have been cleared,making it the highest number of such applications being cleared anywhere in the state. Most of them sought to clear extensions on margins,VMC’s in-charge TDO Kishore Patel says,adding the civic body got richer by Rs 1.05 crore in the process.

In Rajkot,the poor response could be because of the fact that most people with unauthorised structures enjoy basic civic amenities and so they are not interested in getting the same regularised,officials say.

RMC’s town planner Bakul Rupani says the process of regularisation has so far yielded Rs 68 lakh. Civic authorities have been holding Lok Darbar ward-wise in various cities to convince people about the need to pay an impact fee and get their unauthorised constructions regularised.

Dismal show in Surat

In Surat,which has an estimated 25,000 unauthorised constructions,1,300 applications were received of which just four have been cleared. Surat expects another 2,700 applications by August 18,mostly residential. “Most of these are about extensions in residential premises,” says an official.