VISAKHAPATNAM: The district administration is busy working on the government’s proposal to increase the land value in some areas of the city for registration purpose as the revenue from stamps and land registration has dropped drastically. In view of the post-demonetisation and sluggish real estate business, the government has directed the Stamps and Registration department to take up a survey on an enhancement of land values in the city limits in sync with the expansion and development of the area concerned.
Through this, land prices in various areas of the city are expected to go up by 2 per cent to a maximum of 5 per cent of the existing rates.
Meanwhile, the government has directed district officials to restrict the increase to a maximum of 5 per cent.
Earlier during the real estate boom, Visakhapatnam registration department achieved the revenue target. But since post-demonetisation, the real estate sector has nosedived and the revenue also has dipped steeply.
As against the government’s target of Rs 551.75 crore revenue for 2017-18, the district Stamps and Registration department has managed to collect only Rs 489.29 crore, around 88.6 per cent. For the current financial year the government has set Rs 634-crore target and for the first trimester, the figure was estimated at Rs 146.82 crore. But by the end of June, the Visakhapatnam registration department earned only Rs 134.20 crore.
Against this background, the government has agreed to revise some of the city-based/ developed urban areas authorized market values on the basis of the area development and expansion. The government wants to implement the enhanced land prices from August 1.
For the purpose, joint collector G Srijana recently convened a meeting with Stamps and Registration wing DIG Saroja, Vizag district registrar K Ananda Rao and other sub-registrars of the city limits and discussed the number of registrations at the sub-registrar offices concerned and the revenue and the present scenario of various area registration values and how far those developed/expanded area citizens are able to take additional financial burden.
“We discussed extensively the issue and the next meeting will be on July 17. Finally, the government will take the decision,” said Srijana. There are no proposals from the district rural or other town areas and this time, authorities are considering only city limit areas. Meanwhile, the decision has received a mixed reaction from the public. Some of them supported the enhancement while a majority of Vizagites oppose the idea and fear that it may hit their property purchase plans and result in the additional burden of acquiring a house in the city.
