The Hindu Business Line : TN: Residents of unapproved layouts get a breather

The Coimbatore Municipal Corporation (CMC) has started receiving applications for the regularisation of unapproved plots in the city under a hassle-free scheme announced by the State Government recently, raising hopes of basic civic amenities.

The city has one of the largest concentrations of unapproved layouts in urban areas in the State and has witnessed frequent agitations in the past by residents seeking provision of basic amenities like drinking water, roads, streetlights etc.

The residents of such layouts have been paying, apart from property tax, a penalty of 25 paise per sq ft of constructed area every six months.

Minister's proposal

Last month, the Local Administration Minister, Mr M.K. Stalin, announced in the State Assembly a scheme under which approval for unapproved plots would be given.

Instead of a plethora of fees such as development charges, regularisation fee and open space reserve (OSR) charges, he proposed a single fee for the approval of unapproved plots.

The Minister said that after the unapproved plots are regularised on payment of the fee, the buildings would be given approval as per rules.

The local bodies concerned would take steps to provide basic amenities, he added.

Mr K. Raghupathy, Deputy Mayor and Mayor-in-Charge, CMC, told Business Line that an estimated 550 unapproved layouts are in Coimbatore city itself. (The Minister had said that the total number of unapproved layouts in urban areas in the State was around 2,600).

The scheme comes without any rider, like payment of cost of OSR, which had discouraged people from applying for regularisation earlier.

The CMC had collected about Rs 12 crore from the residents of unapproved layouts as development charges in the past before giving water supply connections.

The previous scheme for regularisation was a failure, with only about Rs 25 lakh collected as part payment. Even this scheme could not be implemented for legal reasons.

Unresolved issues

But a host of unsolved issues have cropped up in the wake of the new regularisation scheme. It is not clear whether there is any requirement of minimum number of applications before the basic amenities would be provided in a layout and how the non-applicants could be excluded from provision of common facilities such as roads and streetlights.

Moreover, it is not clear how the payment made by applicants under the earlier scheme for regularisation would be treated. Another issue is whether a separate levy would be collected for building plan approval.

Mr Raghupathy said that a delegation of UPA leaders would be meeting Mr Stalin and officials concerned in Chennai this week and would seek clarifications on such issues.

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