Illegal layouts sprouts to cash in on capital rush

VIJAYAWADA: Lack of coordination among the Revenue Department, Panchayat Raj Department and the VGTM-UDA coupled with the strong nexus between unscrupulous bureaucrats and realtors are the main reasons for mushrooming of unauthorised layouts in the Vijayawada capital region.

However, the VGTM-UDA authorities are blaming the revenue and panchayat raj officials for the unauthorised layouts saying that it's only there to prepare the plans and not regulating them.

As per the rough estimates, there are more than 300 unauthorised layouts under the VGTM-UDA jurisdiction in Krishna and Guntur districts while the approved ones are 476. 'We have given approval and LP number to 319 layouts in Krishna district, 124 in Guntur city, 15 in Tenali and 18 in Mangalagiri,' said chief planning officer T Ramachandriah.

However, he said that the UDA had written letters to the Panchayat Department and the Revenue Departments of both Krishna and Guntur districts recommending them to take action on illegal layouts.

'We do not know why they (revenue and panchayat departments) are not taking action on the illegal layouts. They have been entrusted with the enforcement power. We can only caution the people not to purchase plots in the unauthorised layouts,' said UDA vice-chairperson P Usha Kumari.

Illegal layouts have been formed in about 500 acres of agriculture lands mainly in Amaravathi, Tadikonda, Mangalagiri and Tadeplli in Guntur district, Agiripalli, Gannavaram, Mylavaram and Nuzvid mandal in Krishna district. Some more farmland is ready to be converted into plots following the government's decision to locate the capital city in Vijayawada region.

'Several unauthorised layouts have been formed in the agriculture lands in these mandals. Developers of the ventures or land owners have to convert their land from agriculture to residential one by paying the Non-agriculture Lands Assessment (NALA) Tax and also get the approval of the VGTM-UDA for forming the layout by following the prescribed norms.

But it seems that they do not care for the norms as they want to make fast buck by selling plots to several gullible persons,' said a real estate broker Kodanda Ramaraju of Mangalagiri town.

According to sources, the village revenue officers (VROs), the revenue inspectors (RIs) and the officers from the Planning Department of the UDA often act in collusion with politicians and shady real estate dealers.

The mushrooming of illegal layouts has caused a huge loss to the exchequer. While the UDA is losing revenue in layout charges, the Revenue Department is losing its NALA tax.

UDA vice-chairperson P Usha Kumari said that the approved plans would be displayed at the offices of tahsildhar, mandal parishad development officer and the gram panchayat for the benefit of the people.