HUDA allows first floor for booths

Sushil Manav

The Haryana Government has accepted a longstanding demand of people by allowing construction of first floor on market booths of Haryana Urban Development Authority. 

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is also chairman of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), earlier this week, permitted the construction of first floor of market booths and service booths for storage purposes. To avail of this facility, the allottees will have to deposit 35 per cent of the collector rate for the same and in future, this amount would be charged at the time of auction.

Khattar, who was presiding over the 112th meeting of HUDA, also announced that as a gesture of goodwill, all allottees of residential and commercial sites or buildings in mandi townships and urban estates carved by HUDA would again be given one-time opportunity for submitting application for valid occupation certificate and getting extension fee waived, by extending the last date to avail this facility up to December 31, 2017.

Earlier, the HUDA had given an opportunity to the allottees to submit their applications till December 31, 2016 to avail benefit of extension fee waiver.

Under the new policy, the applications of the allottees would be examined from the date of submission of application and not from the date of construction of building.

Hailing the government’s decision, Panchkula MLA and Chief Whip of the BJP in the State Assembly Gian Chand Gupta said it was a big gift to 1000-odd owners of markets booths in Panchkula and several thousand others across the state.

Gupta said efforts to get permission for construction of first floor on booths were being made for the past six years, but the previous Congress government did not pay heed to the demand.

Gupta said the government would soon mitigate another problem of owners, the encroachment outside the booths.

The realtors’ lobby, however, has termed the charges fixed for this purpose as too high. The Haryana Property Dealers Welfare Association, while welcoming the decision to allow construction of first floor on market booths, has described the charges fixed for it as very high.

“The government has fixed 35 per cent of collector rates as charges, which will be between Rs 15 and Rs 17 lakh. Charging such a high amount for a floor for storage purpose only is too high. Since the stairs will have to be constructed inside the booth, it will make the size of booth even smaller,” said Suresh Agarwal, general secretary of the Association.

He maintained that the charges should be between Rs 2 and Rs 2.5 lakh as is charged for basement or at the most it can be 10 percent of the collector rate.  

The charges fixed for additional floor will be ascertained as per the collector rate or the last auction rate, which ever is higher. This will lead to vast difference in the amount that will be charged from booth owners for making the extension. Pointing out this Agarwal said going by these terms if the collector rate of a booth is Rs 48 lakh but it has been auctioned for Rs 72 lakh then the charge for building first floor will be 35 per cent of 72 lakh and not 48 lakh, which will be a substantial cost for additional floor. The governemnt should look into this aspect and come out with a more rational formula for determination of the base cost of the booth also”.  

Moreover, the booth owners have also sought clarification on whether the first floor area will include construction over the varandah in front of the booth as is allowed in the case of construction of basement for booths. “This point should be clarified at the earliest  to avoid violations and encroachment issues in future”, added Agarwal.