Telangana Govt. Resumes Layout Regularisation Scheme for 25 Lakh Pending Applications

 Hyderabad: The state government has initiated the process to regularise unauthorised plots under the long pending layout regularisation scheme (LRS). Over 25 lakh applications have been pending for the last four years. The BRS government launched the scheme in August 2020 but the regularisation process was halted due to legal hassles.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy reviewed the situation at a meeting here on Friday and directed officials to set up special teams in all 33 districts for speedy processing of applications.

The meeting resolved to implement LRS in a robust manner, while also ensuring minimal inconvenience to the public.

A comprehensive exercise was conducted in the meeting to fine-tune the procedures while going about the implementation process. Stressing the need for a smooth rollout, Bhatti urged officials to prioritise comforts of the public.

"Officials should ensure that people do not face any difficulties due to LRS," Bhatti stated.

Bhatti, also the finance minister, said that in case of staff shortages, they can depute personnel from other departments.

The BRS government had called for applications from August 31 to October 31, 2020. In all, they received 25.44 lakh applications, including from panchayats (10.76 lakh applications), municipalities (10.54 lakh) and municipal corporations (4.13 lakh).

The state government earned nearly Rs 250 crore through application fees alone. Each applicant had paid Rs 1,000 for small plots and Rs 10,000 for bigger ones towards regularisation. Soon after collection of application fees, the government halted the process citing legal issues. It has remained so for the last four years.

The government had received 1.06 lakh applications in GHMC limits, 1.01 lakh applications in Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWM) limits and 50,000 applications in Khammam Municipal Corporation limits. The LRS is expected to fetch around Rs10,000 crore revenue to the state government.

Special chief secretary (finance) K. Ramakrishna Rao, principal secretary (revenue) Naveen Mittal, secretary (stamps and registrations) Jyoti Buddha Prakash, special secretary (housing) V.P. Gautham and GHMC commissioner Kata Amrapali were present in the meeting.