* Accuses civic administration of effecting the rise in development
charges without consulting Standing Committee or General Body
Staff Reporter
Friday
brought a double delight for Nagpurians. For, on this day, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing tour of France yielded an agreement
under which France will be investing in developing Nagpur as a ‘Smart
City’. And, on this day, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) Standing
Committee stayed the implementation of usurious hike in development
charges that was haunting the Nagpurians for past some time.
“For
the past few days, media has been pointing out that the hike in
development charges was exorbitant and would prove to be a hurdle for
commoners in realising their dream of building own house. Several
complaints were received at the offices of Mayor, Standing Committee,
and Ruling Party Leader. Hence, in the meeting held today, Standing
Committee decided to stay the implementation of the hike,” said Ramesh
Singare, Chairman of Standing Committee, while addressing a press
conference on Friday.
It may be mentioned here that ‘The Hitavada’
has been pointing out through its report that the steep hike in
development charges will have a greater impact on the prices of flats
and shops in the city. NMC had hiked development charges up to a
whopping 2,000 per cent for residential buildings and up to 4,625 per
cent for commercial buildings. This evoked sharp reactions as it would
result in manifold increase in construction cost and ultimately lead to
common man’s dream of having own property remaining unrealised. The hike
came at a time when the city’s realty market was facing a slowdown, and
would affect adversely the city’s growth. The hike in development
charges was up to 35 times in case of residential properties and 58
times in case of commercial properties.
Taking cognisance of media
report, especially those of ‘The Hitavada’, Standing Committee stayed
the hike. Dayashankar Tiwari, Ruling Party Leader, said that the
proposal regarding development charges would be brought before General
Body after following due procedure and consultation. Standing Committee
stayed the hike following a resolution in this regard placed by its
member Adv Sanjay Balpande.
“The hike effected by the administration
was putting an unnecessary and a huge burden on the middle class and
common people of Nagpur. The hike was effected considering the situation
in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, etc. However, the administration forgot that
Nagpur’s geographical reality was different,” said Tiwari.
According
to Tiwari, Nagpur city has more number of smaller plots admeasuring
between 1,000 sq ft and 2,400 sq ft. Besides, Nagpur’s population size
is smaller than that of Mumbai and other places. Also, the financial
strength of citizens was not considered by the administration while
effecting hike. “Hence, we have stayed its implemention, asking the
administration to submit a fresh proposal to General Body through
Standing Committee within 15 days. Now, Standing Committee and General
Body will take appropriate decision considering NMC’s growth without
exorbitant burden on people of Nagpur,” Tiwari added.
In his
resolution, Adv Balpande had pointed out that development charges were
decided in NMC’s budget for the financial year 2008-09. As General Body
had cleared it, any change in it had to be effected after prior approval
of Standing Committee and General Body. However, the civic
administration did not consult Standing Committee or General Body and
effected usurious hike in development charges. “This would force people
to go for unauthorised construction. This would also hit the revenue
collection of NMC,” he stated in the resolution, through which he
demanded stay on implementation of the hike in development charges.
Senior corporator Sunil Agrawal and others also were present in the press conference.
(April 10, 2015)
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