Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) has started drainage project in Bopal.
Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) has started drainage project in Bopal and if everything goes as planned, the residents of this satellite town of Ahmedabad will get all civic amenities soon. However, they may have to pay more than Rs200 crore as betterment taxes for drainage, roads, gardens, library, hospitals and other facilities coming up in the area.
Auda has designed three town planning (TP) schemes for Bopal, out of which TP scheme number 1 has been published and suggestions from people have been invited. The development body plans to submit the TP 1 to the government soon. According to the sources, the total betterment charge calculated by Auda is Rs219 crore.
Though, Bopal residents are happy that their civic woes would end soon, the high betterment charges are acting as dampener. Auda has started laying drainage lines on the main road from SP Ring Road to Bopal Talav.
Though Bopal residents have always been regular in paying taxes to panchayat body, they have to face many troubles in the recent years whether it is drainage problem or sanitation work, lack of roads or other amenities, said Bakul Gajjar, a resident of Shyamvrund Society. "We have been residing in this area for the past six years. We have regularly paid all the taxes still the government has not been paying attention to our concerns. We are ready to pay betterment charges for the development work in our area but the charges should not be too high," he added.
One Pranjivan Solanki, a resident of Pushpam Bungalows, said that if Auda needed more money for development works, it should give instalment facility to the residents instead of one time payment.
Talking about betterment charges, Neela Munshi, senior town planner of Auda, said that the development body was yet to submit the TP schemes to the government, so it was too early to say how much betterment charge the residents would have to pay. However, the sources said that the average betterment charge per square metre would be around Rs360.
Anjanaben Patel, the sarpanch-elect of Bopal Gram Panchayat said, "Though, the panchayat has not taken charge as yet, we are keeping a close watch on every development, including the amount to be fixed as betterment charge." On high betterment charges, she said the panchayat would discuss the matter with Auda if it was found to be too high and request the body to rationalise the charges. "If the government and Auda failed to pay heed to our concerns, we would be forced to launch a jan andolan to get justice to people," Patel added.
Vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bopal Mandal, Paresh Ramavat said, "A representation will be made to the government on the issue. In past also, the government had rationalised betterment charges. For example, in case of Aslali, the betterment charge was decided at Rs800 per square metre, which was later reduced to Rs100-150."
On the other hand, construction work already done in Bopal by the residents is posing a big hurdle for Auda. "The constructions have been done without proper planning, so it is very difficult to prepare TP schemes. This is the reason why the TP schemes of Bopal will be finalised and approved as a special case," Munshi added.
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