State may extend LRS till April 30 due to rush

Hyderabad:The state government is likely to extend the deadline for payment of regularisation charges under the layout regularisation scheme (LRS) by a month and extend it up to April 30, following a surge in payments over the past week.

According to official sources, less than four lakh of the nearly 20 lakh applicants, who received intimation letters, have paid LRS charges as of Saturday. The government has so far collected nearly ₹1,200 crore through LRS fees, a far cry from the expected ₹20,000 crore.

The LRS scheme, launched in 2020 by the BRS government, was aimed at regularising unapproved layouts and open plots across the state. Approximately, 25.7 lakh applications were submitted between August 31 and October 31, 2020. However, the previous administration failed to complete the process due to legal hurdles.

After coming to power in December 2023, the Congress government revived the initiative and issued fresh orders on February 20, offering a 25 per cent rebate on regularisation charges and pro-rata open space charges. The discounted payment window was set from February 21 to March 31.

However, technical glitches in the online portal initially hampered progress. Although the issues were subsequently resolved, the response remained muted.

To boost participation, the government instructed collectors to launch awareness campaigns across districts. Municipal and panchayat raj department staff also began contacting applicants directly via phone and SMS to urge them to avail the 25 per cent rebate before the deadline.

This outreach appeared to pay off — on Friday alone, the government collected over ₹100 crore in LRS fees, which further rose to ₹125 crore on Saturday.

Given the uptick in payments and the impending closure of the 2024–25 financial year, the state government has announced that all stamps and registration offices will remain open on March 31, despite it being a Ramzan holiday.

“All district registrars and deputy inspectors general have been directed to ensure the functioning of sub-registrar and district registration offices under their jurisdiction on March 31l,” said G. Madhusudhan Reddy, joint inspector general, Stamps and Registrations.

Of the 25,67,107 applications received in 2020, rebate fee intimation letters have been issued to 20,00,493 applicants so far.

Within GHMC limits, 1,07,872 applications were received. Rebate intimation letters were sent to 59,564 applicants but only 7,881 have made payments. The government has collected ₹103.46 crore from applicants within GHMC jurisiction.

Officials are hopeful that extending the deadline by a month and the continued awareness drive will significantly improve compliance.