E-Paper
Rules governing fee on water use during construction, stacking material sent to UP cabinet
Officials of the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA), on Tuesday, said the draft rules for charging fee on mutation, water usage for construction and stacking
Officials of the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA), on Tuesday, said the draft rules for charging fee on mutation, water usage for construction and stacking building material on government land were finalised during a meeting held in Lucknow with state officials. The final draft will now be sent to the UP cabinet for approval.
The meeting in Lucknow was scheduled to take a final call on framing of rules for the above three categories, of which water usage charge on construction activities was new. The other charges, for mutation (getting the purchaser’s name registered in authority’s records) and charges for stacking building material on government land, were already in place, but were giving rise to legal issues as the rules had not been framed.
“The water charges have been specified in rules as ₹50 per square metre of the covered area of the plot. These charges will have to be paid by the developers for using GDA-supplied water for construction activity. The charges will have to be paid at the time of layout map submission itself. The decision on levying a fee is new and the amount has been specified under the rules,” said Asheesh Shivpuri, authority’s chief architect & town planner.
Officials said builders have been illegally extracting groundwater for construction, which needs to be checked.
“The stacking charges or charges on account of using land for storing construction material have been fixed at ₹40 per square metres on covered area. Likewise, the rules have also been framed for mutation, which is prevalent at 1% of the present land value of the property. The rules have more or less been finalised and will now be sent to the UP cabinet for final approval,” he added.
REGULARISING ILLEGAL SCHEMES
Official sources in the GDA also said the state government is considering a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme in which the irregular constructions, beyond the sanctioned maps or bylaws, can also be regularised by the way of compounding.
“The proposal and presentation have been sent to the chief minister and a final call is awaited for the OTS scheme. It will be for a limited period and will have a set of guidelines in which the deviations in constructions can be compounded. The presentation has been made before the CM and a final call is awaited,” the officer added.
