KMC reduces sanction fees, other charges for small plot owners by 50%
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Friday cleared the proposal to provide major relief to owners of small plots by reducing the rate of sanction fees and other charges by 50 per cent.
The civic body has decided to reduce 50 per cent of sanction fees and other charges for owners of premises above two to three cottahs of land and for residential buildings of height 10 metres (G+II storied) and the building which is only for the ownership of the land owner and not for promoting.
According to KMC, the Building department often receives requests from owners having small plots regarding some relief in sanction fees for regularisation of deviation especially those cases dealt under Section 400 (1) of the KMC Act 1980. The civic body said such fees increased manifold since 2023 due to imposition of IGR rate for violation in open space and floor area ratio (FAR). This was done to discourage unauthorised constructions by developers in the city. It was made applicable to all categories of buildings with different rates irrespective of land area and height. Smaller the land, lesser was the IGR.
Regarding sanction of building plans, the present schedule does not categorise the rate of fees on the basis of locality. Due to this, small plot owners of both Park Street area and Joka became liable for submission of the same amount of sanction fees for equal amounts of development for the same category. Additionally, since 2023 KMC introduced one additional fee for collection, transportation, processing and supervision charges for construction and demolition wastes during sanction of building plans.
However, for plots upto 500sqm, only collection and transportation fees are collected while processing charges and charges for disposal of rejects are borne by KMC. Amid this, the KMC may also levy additional fees and charges for additional benefits as proposed in forthcoming amendments in KMC Building Rules at the rate prescribed by the civic body. Mayor Firhad Hakim said such additional fees and charges should not be applied for constructing residential buildings over
small plots.
