Telangana: Revised LRS charges, a solace for the people

Warangal:It's going to be a bit of solace for those, who bought plots in unauthorised layouts with the State government scaling down the fee of the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS). The government has been facing flak ever since it had issued GO 131 pertaining to Regularisation of Unapproved and Illegal Layout Rules 2020 for urban and rural areas on August 31, 2020.

With the Opposition terming it as disproportionate, and as well as ill-timed (due to coronavirus impact on people's economy), the government backtracked on its decision. The Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday (September 16) informed the Assembly to collect regularisation fee based on the land value at the time of registration of the plot by the applicant instead of the current registration value.

The government on Thursday issued an amendment to the GO 131, bringing in the provisions of the earlier LRS GO 151 issued in 2015. According to the amendment, the basic regularisation charges for market value of the plot as on August 26, 2020 (Sub Register Value) in rupees per square yard below 3,000 will be 20 per cent, between 3,001-5,000 will be 30 per cent, between 5,001-10,000 will be 40 per cent, between 10,001 to 20,000 will be 50 per cent, between 20,001 to 30,000 will be 60 per cent, between 30,001-50,000 will be 80 per cent and above 50,000 will be 100 per cent.

Before amending the GO 131, the regularisation charges were fixed within the frame of four categories based on market value of the land (Sub-Registrar's Office). It may be mentioned here that the actual regularisation charges will be the percentage of basic regularisation charges and shall be calculated based on the land value prevailing as on August 26, 2020 as given below.

Speaking to The Hans India, the Forum for Better Warangal President Pulluru Sudhakar said, "It's a bit of solace for the people who purchased plots in unauthorised layouts. One of the significant decisions taken by the government was to collect pro-rata open space charges @14% of the plot value prevailing as on the date of registration."

Meanwhile, it's said that although the government had scaled down the LRS fee, only a few would be benefited, especially those purchased plots before 2013. It may be recalled here that the government had revised market values (Sub-Registrar Value) of the land in 2013. The realty business in the State took a nosedive in 2014 and it remained dormant for a couple of years. The realty boom picked up pace in the last five years especially since the creation of smaller districts in 2016.

"With the cream of realty business taking place in the last five years, the government stands to lose only a small portion of revenue even though it had brought back the provisions of LRS GO of the 2015," Sudhakar opined.

On the other hand, the TRS cadres in Warangal who feared people's backlash in regard with the LRS appeared happy with the government reducing the charges. It may be noted here that elections to the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) are to be held in March 2021.