Relief for property owners of Guwahati by Assam Government

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Last few decades have witnessed rapid urbanisation of Guwahati city and mushrooming of residential and commercial real estate projects. However, it is an unfortunate reality that some of these residential and commercial buildings in Guwahati were constructed without complying with the building byelaws of Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) which has meant that, there is a constant fear of these homes and buildings being pulled down by GMDA due to non-compliance. But now, Assam Government has decided to provide relief to the property holders. In the State Budget on Wednesday, Assam Government announced few provisions to aid them.

As per the Budget of 2019-20, the government has decided to legalise those properties. “As an empathetic Government, we also feel for the plight of our fellow city dwellers who have invested every rupee of their lives savings in buying into these building to create homes and businesses. In order to put an end to this angst of the citizens, I am happy to announce that our government has decided to introduce a one-time amnesty scheme for property tax payers in Guwahati”, the Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced in his Budget speech on Wednesday.

On voluntary declaration of their building violations, a one-time settlement and regularisation of the construction will be done against the payment of the building violation penalties.

This one-time settlement will be only available for those buildings which comply with the Disaster Management norms including fire safety, parking etc. The residential and commercial property owners are urged to take advantage of this one-time settlement scheme and ensure the penalties for such violations are paid within the stipulated time. GMDA, with the approval of the Government, will work out detailed procedural guidelines for this scheme and the same shall be notified shortly.

Also read: Guwahati City