Owners of residential plots in Salt Lake will be able to transfer their leasehold rights to freehold property in the coming months provided a proposal by a group of ministers at the state secretariat gets passed by the chief minister’s office.
Officials at the urban development department said the group of ministers gave the nod to the conversion for Salt Lake and Kalyani. The proposal now awaits the nod of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Residents will have to pay a fee based on the plot size to the urban development department once the proposal is cleared to change the nature of plots from leasehold to freehold.
A senior official of the department said that this would not only make the process of selling and transferring houses and plots simpler in the township but it would also help generate much-needed revenue for the state government.
Now transfer of leasehold plots in Salt Lake can be done by paying Rs 5 lakh per cottah to the urban development department. Earlier this too could not be done and transfer of ownership had been mired in controversies with many “gifting” their plots while in reality they would sell off their houses.
Kumar Shankar Sadhu, a former secretary of the Bidhannagar Welfare Association and the secretary of the GD Block residents’ body, said that this would allow greater transparency in terms of sale of houses.
“This will make the entire process faster and people would also be directed to change the ownership of the plot. Even now there are plots that are being sold off and new buildings being erected but the name of the owner remains unchanged in the records of the Corporation as well as the urban development department,” said Sadhu.
Several residents, however, expressed concern that such a move would encourage the trend of one or two-storied houses being demolished to make way for new buildings that are at least four storeys high.