Pb govt approves revised policy for unauthorised colonies

Punjab government today gave its nod to the revised policy for regularisation of unauthorised colonies with an emphasis on simplified procedure and reduction in the rates of composition and regularisation fees.
A Cabinet meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal took the decision which also said that the composition fee for regularisation of such colonies will be linked with collector rate to remove ambiguity among different zones, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said.
Now 0.5 per cent of the collector rate (as on April 1, 2013) would be charged for compounding of colonies established before 2007 with the minimum cap of Rs 25000 per acre and maximum Rs 1.00 lakh per acre and 2 per cent of the collector rate would be charged for colonies established after 2007 with the minimum cap of Rs 1.00 lac per acre and maximum cap of Rs. 5.00 lakh per acre.

However, the charges for colonies having area above 20 acres, the composition fee would be 5 per cent of the collector rate for colonies established after August 17, 2007.
The residential plots measuring up to 50 sq yards in all the residential colonies and plots up to 100 sq. Yards in slum areas shall be exempted under this policy.
Now the coloniser does not have to pay 25 per cent of the total charges along with application and he can deposit 10 per cent of the total charges along with application and rest 15 per cent charges shall be paid within 30 days from the date of application submitted by him.

In another landmark decision, the government also approved Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Rules, 2013 for regulating the trade of travel agencies and consultants.

These rules envisaged that a person desirous of undertaking the profession of travel agent or consultant or who was already in this profession on the date of commencement of the act would have to seek a license from the state government by depositing the requisite documents along with the prescribed fee.
The Cabinet also gave go ahead to PUDA for mobilising funds to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore from banks/financial institutions against OUVGL properties. These funds would give further fillip to development works in the state.

It also approved to constitute a cabinet sub-committee for re-structuring Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
To bring in more professionalism in the Cooperative Banks, the Cabinet also approved amending section 26 (2) (a) of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 to vest the power with government for appointing Managing Directors of the Central Cooperative Banks also from amongst the experts in the field of banking, management and finance.