After the state government issued a notification to merge 23 villages into the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), local residents are rushing to record their yet to be authorised properties in the land register (8A Extract) of Gram panchayat office to get it a legal status.
With the rush pouring in, Wagholi– one of the 23 villages being merged – has started a token system to enrol property details in the land register.
On December 24, the state government issued an official notification about the merger of 23 areas (referred as villages in government records) in the PMC limit. The state has given one month’s period to register suggestions and objections on the government decision of merger.
Division Commissioner (Revenue), Pune division will take record objections and submit a report to the state government’s urban development department, after that, the state will take a final decision on the merger and issue a final notification.
After this notification, residents have begun visiting the gram panchayat offices in their villages to register their properties. All gram panchayat offices are busy in the registration work.
Wagholi is one of the areas of upcoming 23 merge villages and it is a highly urbanized part, around 1,000 people per day visit gram panchayat for registration.
Vasundhara Ubale, sarpanch of Wagholi village said, “After notification of the state government, residents are approaching the gram panchayat office to register their properties in 8 (a) extract record. Due to the heavy rush, we have started a token system. There is too much pressure on us.”
Many of these 23 areas, which until now came under PMRDA, also face the problem of unauthorised structures. In 2018, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) identified 16,938 unauthorised constructions in its area with most falling in these villages. While the PMRDA served notices to those responsible for unauthorised constructions, not much happened.
According to Nitin Dhavade, sarpanch of Kondve-Dhavade residents are rushing to gram panchayat office to record their property. There is illegal construction in villages.
“Of the total 2,700 acres of village land, around 2,500-acre land has been given to the National Defence Academy (NDA). Therefore, land is limited. People have constructed unauthorized construction and they have-not mentioned new construction in gram panchayat. Now, they are hurrying to register their properties in the land record. Population density is more in our area due to limited land,” said Dhavale.
Khadakwasla sarpanch Saurabh Mate said, “After the state government notification, people have started the process of registering properties in gram panchayat. Earlier, they were not serious. Residents were happy to pay a single tax on old households to the gram panchayat. After the merger process started, they suddenly realize the importance of registration of newly constructed properties in gram panchayat. We include properties in 8 (a) and we mention the status of properties like unauthorized or authorized in it. It is formed to collect taxes and not the process of legalizing unauthorized construction. After including new property (new construction such as ground plus one or two), we collect property tax on this property and clear the dues. In this process, gram panchayat will get additional tax.”
Vivek Kharvadkar, chief engineer of Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) said, “Recording property details in gram panchayat is a process eligible to pay property tax. It is not a process to legalize unauthorized construction. It is part of collecting revenue through property tax. The PMRDA is authorized to sanction plans of the building and decide the authorized and unauthorized status of structure based on building permits and other related documents.”
Suresh Jagtap, additional municipal commissioner of PMC said, “Though the gram panchayat is mentioning the name of properties in their land record, the corporation will verify and then apply property tax. The merger process will take more than one month to complete. After that, gram panchayat will have to hand over all records to PMC. Then, the actual merger process starts.”
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Khate Utara (8A extract)
It is a document which details the exact holdings of an owner; therefore, it is advisable to check that document for calculation of the total holding of the present owner. It is useful for establishing ownership. It shows total information of the owner’s properties in that village area. It is important documents which will help gram panchyat to evaluate and collect property tax on particular property
