Goa govt begins process to regularise illegal houses

The Goa Government has decided to work out modalities to regularise illegal houses in the state and get them into the legal ambit almost a year after it assured to work in this direction.
"The assurance was given in the last budget by former chief minister Manohar Parrikar. All MLAs are now stressing that we should start fulfilling it," Goa Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza told reporters here.
He said the government will work out modalities to regularise these dwellings after going through various details, including ownership of the land.
"The ownership issues need to be handled carefully. We have to see whether the house is in government, private or communidade (village institution) properties," D'Souza, who is also Town and Country Planning Revenue minister, said.

Parrikar had announced the plan to give legal relief to almost 30,000 houses across the state that were termed "illegal" due to non-fulfilment of certain formalities with the state authorities.
He had said that houses constructed before February 28, 2014, could be covered under the scheme.

D'Souza today said that several agencies would be involved in the regularisation process. To begin with, he said, the local municipal councils can start collecting House Tax from such dwellings.
"Collection of tax does not make them legal, but, at least we can ask people to pay for the services rendered to them by the government," he said.

The deputy chief minister said the state government is also intending to amend the current Town and Country Planning Act for the ease of business for real estate industry.
"The building industry is facing lot of difficulties. They have been petitioning us. Places where corrections are required (in the Act), we will have to do it. We cannot ignore the building industry which is helping in state's GDP growth. We have to see they get smooth approvals," he said.
The minister said that while planning and development agencies issue construction licence for three years, the local municipalities give them for one year, forcing builders to approach the body annually.

"No one can construct the house within a year. We want to make sure municipalities give the licences for one to three years," he said.