Fee for regularisation of illegal colonies to be slashed

Punjab government today agreed to a proposal of slashing regularisation fee of almost 5,000 unauthorised housing colonies.
"In a meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the proposal for fixing fee at a rate of 2 per cent of the collector rate for properties constructed after April 2007 and 0.5 per cent for properties constructed before April 2007 was agreed upon," state Industry minister Anil Joshi said.
As per the new proposals, there will be maximum and minimum ceiling on fees to be charged for regularisation of unauthorised colonies.
In case of property constructed after April 2007, the maximum and minimum ceiling for fee has been kept at Rs 5 lakh per acre and Rs 1 lakh per acre respectively, he said.

The maximum and minimum cap for property constructed before 2007 will be Rs 1 lakh and Rs 25,000 per acre respectively, Joshi said.
It was also agreed to exempt properties having an area of 50 square yards from payment of any fee for regularisation, he added.

Joshi, however, said a decision for providing relief to individual plot or house owners is yet to be taken.
"Fresh proposals will be put up in the cabinet meeting for approval," he said.
Punjab government's policy for regularising almost 5,000 unauthorised housing colonies came under severe criticism after residents termed it as "impractical" due to exorbitant amount of fees fixed for regularisation.

The state government had fixed regularisation charges in the range of Rs 1.20 lakh per acre to as high as Rs 15 lakh per acre depending on the area in which the colonies were set up between 1995 till before April 1, 2013.
Facing stiff criticism from several quarters including its ally BJP and opposition Congress, a four-member committee was constituted to look into the issue.