Hyderabad: Land Regularisation Scheme applicants cry foul over faulty master plan
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority has rejected as many as 61,000 applications applied under Land Regularisation Scheme claiming that these lands fall in water bodies, industrial zones or are Shikam lands according to the the existing master plan.
Surprisingly, the municipal body itself has claimed that there were several mistakes in the master plan and had constituted teams to rectify them. Even though rejected applicants are moving from pillar to post to get a refund of their initial payment of Rs 10,000 which was collected as processing fee, the HMDA has been reluctant in reimbursing as it claims that the repayment was not prescribed in the GO 151. The HMDA also clarified that it would consider the issue only after seeking a government opinion.
With LRS date having ended on October 31, the municipal authority has cleared 1,02,242 applications and processed another 10,000 applications that are awaiting clearance from the Revenue Department.
As per the official records, the HMDA has received 1,76,102 LRS applications. Of these it has approved 1,02,242 and rejected 61,112 applications. Remaining 12,748 LRS applications have issues like no attested documents of registered sale deed, title deed executed, location plan, detailed layout to scale showing plotted area, etc. The applicants will be given three months time to submit the missing documents. The applications will then be sent to the Revenue Department and will be approved only after obtaining a no objection certificate from them.
The HMDA has received a whopping '975,49,73,209.57 from LRS applicants and NALA (Non Agricultural Land Assessment). Despite receiving such a huge amount, the HMDA is reluctant to refund the initial amount of Rs 10,000 to 61,112 applicants whose applications were rejected claiming that this was not in accordance with the master plan, which incidentally HMDA itself claimed, had several errors in it. The officials also said that there was no mention in GO 151 pertaining to land regularisation in urban local bodies.
Sharing his experience, Mr K. Parameshwar Rao, LRS applicant from Ramaipalle village in Manoharabad mandal said that he had been travelling at least 100 kilometres to HMDA headquarters in Tarnaka to enquire about the rejection of application and get the initial amount reimbursed. “When I purchased land it did not fall in any of the categories prescribed by the HMDA and after travelling for three days, I was shocked to learn that the 2 acre land fell under a water body according to the master plan,” he said. Mr Parameshwar Rao demanded the HMDA should at least refund his amount.
Mr A Koti Reddy, another LRS applicant from Nagulapalle village in Tupran mandal, said that he had raised objections against the master plan. He even alleged that his application was rejected as he had not paid the bribe demanded by the ground level staff. “Since I have not paid the demanded amount all of a sudden my land has fallen in Shikam land,” he said. He suggested HMDA should reverify its master plan and refund the amount paid.
The TS government issued GO 151 in November 2015 for the regularisation of unauthorised layouts in accordance with the guidelines. It was made mandatory for all plot owners.
