Unused Urban Land: Issue in unauthorised colonies of Delhi
The Delhi Government plans to develop public utility services on unused plots of 1,000 sq. yards or above which are vacant in unauthorised colonies; in a bid to protect them from land sharks.
The Delhi Urban Development ministry commenting on this move said that although there is no land vacant in over 700 colonies; there are 895 unauthorised colonies in south Delhi, south-west and north-west areas which have vacant plots which will be used for this project.
Three civic bodies have been directed to identify these vacant lands and prepare the final layout for these public utility services.
The public utility services that are being planned in these plots include community and recreation centres, schools, dispensaries, public distribution shops and sub-offices of government departments that deal with people and their grievances.
It is believed that the land Mafia has been eyeing these vacant lands in unauthorised colonies ever since regularisation, as none of these plots possess any records from the Delhi Development Authorities (DDA), land and building department, urban development, civic bodies or the revenue department.
Regularisation of unauthorised colonies has been an ongoing issue for ages now and this has triggered as a cause of concern for the Delhi Government just when the Assembly polls are on top of the agenda for this year.
However, the registry never opened nor did the layout get approved, thanks to the disagreements between the Revenue Department and Delhi Urban Development authorities.
The issue of vacant land in rapidly growing cities has been a challenge in India. Most of the land in India is privately owned which renders higher possibility of land speculation. Though there have been some efforts made by fast urbanizing states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra pradesh in form of policies related to Vacant Land Tax.
Local authority follows various parameters in different metropolitan cities in terms of the tax. Vacant land tax is imposed to prevent land speculation in urban areas. VLT is levied in proportion of land value prevailing at the time.
The legislative framework to impose vacant land tax in ULBs is currently present in two states of India; being Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh:
1. VLT in Andhara: Regulation since October 2001, 0.5% of the prevailing registration value.
2. VLT in Tamil Nadu: Regulation since august 2009, the vacant land tax is applicable in all ULBs except Chennai Municipal Corporation.
Though in some cases tax is negligible compared to actual value of land parcel.
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