PANAJI: With the end of the extended deadline on January 23, 2017, the state revenue department has received 3,889 applications from across the state under the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016 to regularise structures built on private land.
The applications received will now be scrutinised by way of physical inspection by the nodal officers.
As per information received by this daily from the revenue department, 1,929 applications have been received from north Goa and 1,960 applications from south Goa. When contacted, Under Secretary of revenue department Ashutosh Apte said that the Deputy Collectors and sub-divisional officers are the nodal officers, who have received these applications from their respective jurisdictions. He said that the government has constituted special teams, which will carry out the further procedure of scrutinising the applications followed by physical inspection of the said unauthorised structures built on private land.
In order to give relief to many Goan families which were living in such residential structures besides those that had constructed institutions and residential cum commercial structures before February 28, 2014, the state government enacted the law in August 2016.
According to the law, the owners will have to pay all conversion fees, infrastructure tax, occupancy fees plus the construction licence fee, besides a penalty. The penalty would be five per cent for residential and institutional structures, 15 per cent for commercial and ten per cent for residential cum commercial structures.
Structures to be covered include any construction in one’s own property, construction in a property held by co-owners (provided necessary written consent of such co-owner has been obtained), construction of mundkarial structure by a person duly declared as mundkar under the provisions of the Mundkar Act, or a farmhouse constructed by a tenant or owner on agriculture land.
Also, any structure on undivided property held jointly by a unit of family or families, provided consent of every such member of the family is annexed will be covered under the new law.
The proposed legislation will not hold good if the structure to be regularised is situated in a protected forest area, within a wildlife sanctuary, in areas covered under coastal regulation zone 2011, no-development zone, open space, public land, structures in or for scrapyard, eco-sensitive zone notified by the Union Environment Ministry, khazan land or has been built by obstructing any natural water channel or by filling up of water bodies.
An official said that though the applications have been received by the authorities, the actual exercise would be carried out after the end of assembly election process, as all the Deputy Collectors are returning officers for the election.