The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has raised the regularisation fees for unauthorised structures to such an extent that builders will not be able to profit after paying the penalty to regularise these structures, the commissioner of the civic body told a programme.
Binod Kumar said the idea behind raising the fees was to dissuade people from constructing illegal structures with the hope of having them regularised at a later date.
Regularisation is a word used in the KMC's corridors to allow an unauthorised construction to remain as it is in return for a fee or penalty that the owner of the property pays to the civic body.
Since 2022, the KMC has been charging regularisation fees as a percentage of the market value of the unauthorised portion.
Kumar said that the civic body was willing to help people to get a building permit if they approached the KMC with a proposal.
There are many relaxations in the KMC Building Rules that allow construction of buildings on small plots or for plots with a narrow road in front, he said.
But if someone builds a structure without permission from the civic body, the KMC will not shy away from pulling down the structure or the illegally built portion of the structure, Kumar added.
One of the major challenges faced by the KMC is how to prevent the construction of illegal structures in the city, said civic officials.
"Come to us. We will help you in getting a building permit. But if you come to us after constructing an illegal structure, we will demolish it. We will not listen to any recommendations," Kumar said while interacting with members of a chamber of commerce on Friday.
The KMC Building Rules 2009 have many concessions for small plots. Common people may not be aware of these rules and they may think they will not get a building permit.
"But if they approach the civic body, engineers can guide them in how to go about to get the permit," said a KMC official.
"We have linked the regularisation fees of unauthorised structures with the market value of the structure. This means that if someone thought that they would sell the illegally built portion by paying a small regularisation fee and make good profit, they would be wrong," he said.
They would have to pay such a steep regularisation fee that building the illegal portion would not be cost-effective, he added.
"This raise has been done with this intention," Kumar said.
An official said: "Suppose someone has built 500 sqft illegally. We will ask them to pay a portion of the market value of that 500 sqft."
A three-storey building now invites a regularisation fee that is 12.5 per cent of the market value of the illegally built portion. A seven-storey building will invite a regularisation fee that is 75 per cent of the market value of the illegally built structure.
Before 2022, the regularisation fee was based on a schedule of fees prepared by the KMC and it was much less than the current rates. "I will say that there has been more than five times increase in regularisation fees since 2022, compared to the fees that were charged earlier," said the official.
The KMC has pulled down about 300 illegal buildings or portions of buildings in the past year.
Civic officials admitted there were still an innumerable number of illegal structures being built or that have been built in the city and continue to exist.