State revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat has told the property registration department to work towards resumption of its offices in Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Nagpur after May 17 by ensuring social distancing norms.
The offices in these cities are closed since the announcement of the lockdown. Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Nagpur witness the maximum registration of real estate projects in the state. Of the 519 registration offices in Maharashtra, only 272 are currently operational.
Thorat said the government was taking steps towards lockdown exit and was devising a system in the four cities for the revival of the real estate registrations.
“The registration department generates the maximum revenue for the state. An online system with adequate security check is being worked out for the process. The department has the e-step-in facility to enable booking of time slots for registration. This can be used more in the red zones of cities,” he told TOI.
Govt plans to restart property regn after May 17
The state has issued orders that the government offices in the orange and green zones can resume with 33% staff. But in the red zones, the government offices can function with only 5% staff.
An Inspector General of Registration (IGR) official said, “Collectors from 30 of 37 districts have issued permission to open our offices. We can start the registration process if a system is in place which will maintain social distancing norms.”
Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India’s Pune-metro president, Suhas Merchant, said, “The state government has allowed construction of projects with workers staying at the site. It should also start the registration process with social distancing norms.”
Ready reckoner review after June, says Thorat
State revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat told that the assessment and implementation of the new Ready Reckoner (RR) would be done after June. Under the current circumstances and the rising Covid-10 cases, it looks practically impossible to work out the RR rates. We will review the situation after June,” he said.
The RR rates, which are prices of a residential property, land or commercial property for a given area, are published on March 31 every year.
