K'taka govt cuts penalty on land use violation

The state government on Friday announced reduction in penalties for violations under the Sakrama scheme formulated to regularise unauthorised buildings and sites.

The decision comes in the backdrop of opposition to the scheme from several residents welfare associations which argued that the regularisation fee was hefty.

Speaking to reporters here after the cabinet meeting, Governor's advisor S Krishna Kumar said the penalty has now been reduced by 80 per cent for 20x20 sites and 60 per cent for 30x40 sites.

As a majority of the illegal constructions in Bangalore are small buildings, the reduction is likely to come as a breather to the lower and the middle income groups which are living under the fear of their properties being razed to the ground.

The Sakrama scheme, in fact, was started by the JD(S)-led coalition government on September 15, 2007 as a solution to address the problem of land encroachments. The scheme allowed for a 50 per cent deviation from building bye-laws for residential properties and a 25 per cent deviation for commercial properties.

The Greater Bangalore City Corporation (GBCC), the implementing agency, is expected to raise Rs 550 crore through the scheme as only around 600,000 properties of the 1.4 million properties that fall under its jurisdiction were in accordance with the town planning rules.

The scheme was supposed to end on December 14, 2007. However, it was put on the back burner after protests against it intensified.

The cabinet, which took note of the representations given by various organisations, reviewed the penalties and decided to provide relief to the small site and building owners. The scheme is likely to be restarted from April 1.

Kumar said the government has decided to exempt the residents of 108 villages that were recently added to the GBCC from paying regularisation fee.

The exemption is also extended to houses constructed for the poor under the Ashraya scheme and that built by Karnataka Housing Board and Karnataka Slum Clearance Board.

Building owners who have paid betterment charges to gram panchayats or urban local bodies need not pay the full regularisation fee, Kumar added.