Confusion about I & A charges ..
“Some other local bodies have confused these charges with the development charges collected for providing amenities to layouts,” says Coimbatore Consumer Cause secretary K. Kathirmathiyon. “But, Infrastructure and Amenities charges go to a common pool for providing infrastructure in the State,” he points out.
The Government created the Infrastructure Development Fund through a gazette notification of the Housing and Urban Development Department on January 26, 2008. It was given retrospective effect from November 12, 2007. As per the new system, people who apply for permission to construct building (except residential structures of up to four dwelling units) should pay the charges.
Mr. Kathirmathiyon says that the Local Planning Authority had collected the charges when plans were submitted to it for permission. But, the local bodies such as corporations, municipalities, town panchayats and panchayats had not. He said the consumer body had brought this to the notice of the government. Now, the government has reduced the charges. But the local bodies have not been informed adequately about the system of collecting charges, he says.
