Telangana: Govt targets to collect Rs 15,000 crore from LRS

While previous governments have implemented the LRS on many occasions in the past, the Congress is looking at generating nearly twice the income of the previous government from the scheme.

Hyderabad: The Congress, which had demanded that the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) be implemented free of charge while in the Opposition, has taken an about turn after assuming power, and is now aiming to generate over Rs 15,000 crore in revenue through the scheme.

While previous governments have implemented the LRS on many occasions in the past, the Congress is looking at generating nearly twice the income of the previous government from the scheme. It may be noted that the land registration value was revised by the previous BRS regime in July 2021 since it was not revised for almost seven years. Now, the current Congress government‘s decision to collect the regularisation fee will be based on the new land registration value which came into force from August 1, and this is poised to put an additional burden on the beneficiaries. Further, the government has also decided to impose an additional charge of 0.5 per cent on vacant lands. This is despite protests from the Opposition, particularly the BRS, which questioned the government’s decision to collect the LRS fee, especially because the Congress had argued to avoid the fee earlier.

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For instance, a person who purchased a plot in an unapproved layout on the outskirts of Hyderabad at a land registration value of Rs.5,000-6,000 per sq.yard before 2019, now has to pay the regularisation fee based on the market value of the land which has been revised twice and is almost double the value at the time of registration. In addition, the applicant also has to pay an additional charge of 0.5 per cent on vacant land. Without paying this amount, local authorities will not grant construction permits.

In August 2020, the then K Chandrashekhar Rao government had issued orders to regularise plots in unauthorised layouts and sought applications for LRS online, with October 31, 2020 as deadline. The government received 25,59,562 applications across the State, including 1,06,891 in GHMC, 1,01,033 in Greater Warangal, 51,395 in Khammam Corporation, 10,60,013 in other municipalities, and 10,83,394 in gram panchayats.

Through collection of application fee of Rs 1,000 alone, the then BRS government earned a revenue of Rs 255.95 crore. However, the regularisation process was stalled due to multiple court cases.

With legal disputes nearing resolution recently, the current Congress government decided to complete the LRS process and fill the State treasury which has been struggling for want of funds. On July 30, Memo No. 8,235 was issued initiating the process for regularising the plots in unauthorised layouts in municipalities and gram panchayats. The Centre for Good Governance (CGG) will process these applications, with approvals granted in three stages.

Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka along with Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy held a review meeting with the officials concerned on Saturday, where the officials have been instructed to strictly follow the guidelines for regularisation of the unauthorised layouts and plots.