BENGALURU: The Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Amendment Bill that reduces fines for non-payment of property and other taxes from 200 to 100%.
The House also passed the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill 2024 to provide Floor Area Ratio up to 0.4 times of the land dimension.
Both Bills were passed amid protests by BJP MLAs, who criticised the state government for not holding a discussion on them.
The government stated that it considered necessary to amend the BBMP Act as some of its provisions hindered levying and collection of property tax, advertisement fee, and recovery of tax and fee arrears.
The Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill allows levying of premium charges for grant of premium Floor Area Ratio. This means premium Floor Area Ratio can be purchased by builders and developers at a cost of 40% of the guidance value.
The premium charges collected for grant of premium Floor Area Ratio should be deposited under a separate account of the planning authority or the urban local body and the same should be utilised only for land acquisition and public infrastructure. The money should not be used for repair, maintenance or other miscellaneous work.
Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar said this will help generate more revenue which can be used for Bengaluru’s development. Former CM Basavaraj Bommai objected to the amendment and said increasing Floor Area Ratio means more congestion. When there is more pressure on roads, increasing the Floor Area Ratio will add more chaos. This is a money-making Bill, he alleged.
Shivakumar, however, said there is a provision to increase it by 50%. But it has been restricted to 40%.