GHMC speeds up land acquisition process

GHMC Commissioner was delegated with special powers for land acquisition while doing away with the cumbersome process of administrative practices since January 2020

Hyderabad: Ever since the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner was delegated with the powers of Special Collector, land acquisition is on fast track facilitating in completion of different projects as per schedule.

The GHMC Commissioner was delegated with special powers for land acquisition while doing away with the cumbersome process of administrative practices since January 2020. Since then, the municipal corporation acquired 487 properties by awarding a compensation of over Rs 396 crore to the property owners.

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Considering the past practices, this is nothing short of an achievement. To acquire 487 properties and awarding Rs 396 crore compensation in one year is definitely a commendable achievement for the civic body, said a senior official from GHMC.

This has helped in putting the projects on fast track as land acquisition was a major hurdle for any project in the past. More importantly, the Rs.396 crore compensation excludes the issue of Transfer of Development Rights, he said.

In the past, acquiring properties and processing a particular file for acquisition used to take at least five to six months. Now this exercise has been cut short to about 90 days, he said.

GHMC officials said they no longer need to make rounds between the three Collectorates — Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medchal districts for acquisition process. The GHMC Commissioner is now empowered to pass awards for acquisition of lands without referring the same to the Collectors of districts that fall under the GHMC limits.

The State government had also delegated the powers of special Collector of Outer Ring Road (ORR) under Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Department, which in turn transferred the same to the GHMC Commissioner.

250 TDRs issued in 2020 alone

Though the Transferable Development Rights (TDR) was introduced long back, it is now being accepted by all sections, specially the builders community.

According to GHMC officials, out of the 721 TDRs issued till date, around 250 were issued in 2020. After the concept of TDR bank (online platform) was introduced to promote sale and purchase of TDRs, the State Government was able to save lot of revenue towards acquisition of properties and there has been steady rise in the acceptance by the property owners.

So far, 721 TDRs were issued for an area spread 13,06,416 square yards and the total summing up to Rs.1421 crore were issued. GHMC officials said a majority of the property owners, whose land had been acquired by the government for construction of slip and link roads, have preferred to take TDR over monetary compensation.

About 200 properties were acquired for construction of 37 slip roads. Though the number of properties is less, the land acquired to lay these roads is higher compared to road widening.

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