Vijayawada civic body eyes recovery

The process of recovering fines under the Building Penalisation Scheme(BPS) is getting delayed because the Vijayawda Municipal Corporation (VMC) is yet to get response from all applicants who want to escape legal action. The civic authorities are yet to recover fine from 720 applicants even as the state government extended the due date for BPS till March 31. The state government came up with the BPS in 2016, to bring under scanner illegal constructions that came up within the limits of the VMC and the urban development authority. Directorate of town and country planning, which has incorporated an online system for BPS for the first time, is facing problems because of technical glitches. The town planning wing of the VMC, which organised campaigns and awareness drives across the city, received around 6,200 applications under the BPS. As the VMC and Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority razed illegal constructions in the city, many people applied for the scheme. However, many applications were rejected as they failed to comply with the guidelines. So far, the VMC collected around Rs 60 crore from this scheme. The applicants who initially paid Rs 10,000 penalty did not pay the rest of the dues, and hence the government had to extend the due date. Vijayawada mayor Koneru Sreedhar, said: “The BPS scheme is to regularise the constructions that have flouted guidelines. Around 400 applicants paid their dues by December 31, 2017. Around 720 applications are still pending with us.” The due date for BPS payment has been extended for three more months, and people should utilise it to avoid legal actions, he said. J Nivas, VMC commissioner, said, “Maximum number of applications have been cleared, and only 10% are pending with us. So far, the VMC has earned around Rs 60 crore under this scheme, and this will help us continue with development works in the city. Penalties worth Rs 50 lakh are pending now, and we hope that applicants will pay the dues by March 31.”