As many as 673 properties were registered and Rs 20 crore revenue generated in the city between May 18 and 26 after a nearly two-month break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Seventeen of the 27 property registration offices in the city’s non-containment zones reopened on May 18. Officials said property registration slowly picked up in the fourth phase of the lockdown and was expected to improve once there were more relaxations.
“There was hardly any registration on the first day of resumption. But the registrations started picking up after May 20,” joint district registrar of Pune city G S Kolekar said.
Of the 516 registration offices in the state, 475 are working at full strength through the e-step in process. Only five registrations are allowed at a time in a registration office to maintain social distance.
“Property registrations are slowly and steadily picking up and the figures will improve in June. At present, our sub-registrar offices are working with 100% staff strength by maintaining all health protocols. People are increasingly coming out of the fear of the pandemic and visiting the registration offices,” inspector general of registration and stamps (IGR) Omprakash Deshmukh said.
“We are cross-checking all applications from the containment zones, especially in Pune and Mumbai, and preventing applicants from visiting our offices,” he said.
673 city properties registered in 1 week
Deputy IGR Bhurkunde said the registrations taking place now were due in March before the lockdown was announced. Statistics show 1,139 properties were registered in the state in April and Rs273.39 crore generated. In May, Rs223.72 crore was generated, mostly from the rural areas, through leave and licence agreements and few property registrations.
“There are a lot of parameters for the registrations in Pune and Mumbai. Once there are more relaxations, we are hopeful about more property registrations,” Bhurkunde said.
Credai-Pune Metro president Suhas Merchant said opening up of the registration offices was a good sign. “The initial low response can be attributed to no new bookings in the past two months. The e-registration process at the builders’ offices for new projects will be the way ahead for the property process,” he said.
Anand Rathi, a Rasta Peth resident, registered his property last week at the sub-registrar office in the Camp area. “We went for the e-step-in process and were allotted an appointment. We went at the allotted time and the entire work was done in 30 minutes amid health protocols — from sanitizing hands and maintaining social distances,” he said.
Activist Shrikant Joshi, who has been pushing for sanitized registration offices, said, “The process to regularize the registration process may take some time. But basic cleanliness should be maintained.”
