Maharashtra govt hikes Gunthewari Development charges 3x

The state government has increased charges for the regularisation of illegal layouts and plots under the Maharashtra Gunthewari Developments (regularisation, upgradation and control) Act 2001 by three times. Presently, owners of illegal layouts and plots will have to spend Rs 168 per sq ft as against the current Rs 56 per sq ft. On Monday, the state’s urban development department released the notification raising the charges. Authorities of Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) told the media that development costs for regularisation of illegal layouts and plots have been at Rs 56 per sq ft since August 2014. In the recent notification, the government told the media that charges for regularisation would be three times the current development charges. No costs are to be recovered from illegal plots if the charges have been recovered already during the regularisation of the whole layout. The Gunthewari Act was introduced by the government in 2001. Development charges were set at Rs 16 per sq ft on May 18, 2001. The government selected NIT as the planning and implementation authority under the Gunthewari Act for the city. NIT has been recovering charges and using the fund on infrastructure advancement works in the regularised areas. In August 2013, the government increased charges to Rs 112 per sq ft on the demand of NIT. After uproar from people and public representatives, the government withdrew the decision. In August 2014, the charges surged to Rs 56 per sq ft. Since then, the charges have remained constant. NIT used to regularise illegal layouts and plots that had emerged on or before January 1, 2001. On March 12, the government had additionally approved the regularisation of illegal layouts and plots that emerged on or before January 1. NIT is yet to begin the process and is likely to start inviting applications from December. Image Source