Telangana government to slash fee for regularisation of illegal layouts

HYDERABAD: In a major relief to the people, the State government has decided to slash the fee for regularising the illegal layouts under Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS). The government will make amendments to the recently-issued G.O. 131 on LRS. The amended orders are likely to be issued on Thursday.

Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao announced this in the State Legislative Assembly during a debate on the GHMC on Wednesday. Rama Rao said that the revised G.O. to be issued on Thursday would be more or less on the lines of LRS G.O. issued by the State government in 2015.

As per G.O. 131, the actual regularisation charges will be the percentage of basic regularisation charges, which will be calculated based on the land value prevailing as on August 26, 2020. However, these orders will be revised so that the people can pay just 14 per cent of the land value prevailing as on the date of the registration of the plot.

In the G.O. 151 issued in November, 2015, it was stated that the regularisation charges will be at 14 per cent of the plot value prevailing as on the date of registration of plot. If a plot was registered in 2010 in an illegal layout, the property owner who applied for LRS now can pay the regularisation charges of 14 per cent of the market value of the land prevailing in 2010. Not as per the market value of the land in August, 2020. This will provide a major relief to the people. In fact, the market values of lands as fixed by the government were not revised after 2013.

During the debate in the Assembly, several members, including Congress floor leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, urged Rama Rao to ensure that the LRS scheme should not be a burden on the common man. TRS members D Vinay Bhaskar and Danam Nagender Reddy too made similar requests.

As per the G.O. 131, the regularisation charges will be around `2 lakh for a 200 sq yards plot. Due to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic that left many with no source of income, people felt that the regularisation charges were a burden on them. The government would give six months time for payment of the regularisation charges. The applicants have to pay nominal fee at the time of application.