BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Tuesday extended the date of receipt of application under amnesty scheme, which allows the residents to regularise their unauthorised constructions, by 15 days. The previous deadline for the same was February 15. Housing and Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena said the deadline was extended in view of the public demand.
The Government had notified the amnesty scheme in June 2019 to regularise the unauthorised constructions. The scheme is applicable for all development authorities of Odisha such as Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Cuttack, Kalinga Nagar, Paradip, Puri, Konark, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Talcher, Angul and Meramandali.
Applications received under these schemes need to be disposed of by the officials within six months.
Sources said the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has received nearly 5,000 applications from the residents and building owners of commercial and clinical establishments. Of these, 1,335 applications have been processed in 2018, 2,145 in 2019 and 1,007 in 2020 till date.While houses of around 900 applicants have been regularised, objections were raised on building plan of 1,000 applicants. The remaining applications are under scrutiny, said the officials.
With six planning assistants available with the agency, BDA officials opined that the delivery of service under the scheme can be improved further if manpower is increased to deal with pending applications.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) has urged the Government to extend the date of receipt of application under the scheme in urban areas by at least six months for the larger benefit of people.CREDAI members have also requested that the relaxation given to clinical establishments in fire safety be extended to all residential buildings to attract more applicants to take benefit of the scheme.