ROURKELA: As many as 1,600 traders of Steel City heaved a sigh of relief as the Rourkela Development Authority (RDA) agreed to roll back abnormal hike in monthly rent, security money and transfer fee.
The RDA on September 21 last year had adopted a resolution to enhance monthly rent of shops and commercial spaces with concrete ceiling to Rs 10 from Rs 4.5 per sq ft. Similarly, for asbestos roof, the rent was increased to Rs 9 from Rs 3.5 per sq ft. Besides, for transfer of shops and commercial establishments, RDA had announced to enhance security deposit to Rs 2,000 per sq ft, processing fee to Rs 500 from Rs 300 per sq ft with rent of Rs 8 per sq ft.
The new rent structure was supposed to come into effect from January 20, 2020. RDA Shop Owners’ Association (RDASOA) president Bijay Pradhan said a meeting was convened by the RDC-Northern Division and RDA chairman on December 21, 2019 in which the former had asked the then RDA secretary and Rourkela ADM Yeddula Vijay to hike the monthly rent in consultation with the allottees. However, other points could not be discussed for paucity of time.
On January 31, a meeting was held with the new RDA secretary and Rourkela ADM Aboli Sunil Naravane. He said the RDA secretary and the allottees mutually agreed to hike rent at Rs 6 and Rs 5 per sq ft for concrete roof and asbestos roof respectively. The RDA secretary also agreed to allow renewal of shops and commercial spaces against prescribed annual renewal fee of Rs 100 without penalty.
For transfer of shops and commercial spaces, the allottees had proposed to reduce security deposit to Rs 800 from the enhanced Rs 2,000 per sq ft and to fix processing fee at Rs 300 from the enhanced Rs 500 per sq ft and keep the rent intact at Rs 8 per sq ft. The RDA secretary assured the allottees to take up the issue with the RDA chairman and vice-chairman for approval.