GHAZIABAD: GDA may soon get its share of Rs 568 crore in infrastructure cess dues from the state govt with the cabinet clearing the decks on Wednesday for a proposal to directly transfer the funds to development authorities and civic bodies.
Infrastructure cess — a 2% charge collected as a part of stamp duty on the sale and purchase of new property — is collected by the state govt and released to ULBs and development authorities in instalments. The fund earlier used to be deposited with the district magistrates, but in 2013 the Samajwadi Party govt tweaked the rules.
“In Ghaziabad, 5% of the total value of a property is charged as stamp duty and another 2% as infrastructure cess. This amount is divided into three parts and is supposed to be released to the GMC, GDA and UP Housing Board annually by the state govt,” a GDA official said.
The govt, however, has released this amount in instalments over the past few years. For instance, of Rs 568 crore that GDA is supposed to get from the govt since 2013, it has only received Rs 42 crore in the last fiscal year.
A major source of revenue, the corpus is used by the GDA for development works and projects. In May this year, GDA wrote to the state govt, urging it to release Rs568 crore under the infrastructure cess.
In 2022, former GMC councillor Himanshu Mittal filed a PIL in the Allahabad HC seeking the release of infrastructure funds to the ULBs directly. The matter is still pending in the court.
Currently, the development authority is scouting for funds for the recently announced Harnandipuram township and the Noida Electronic City to Sahibabad metro extension corridor.
The development authority is to bear 50% of the estimated Rs 10,000-crore budget for developing the Harnandipuram township on 541 hectares. Also, 80% of the total Rs 1,873-crore estimated cost for developing the 5km metro arm is proposed to be jointly borne by the state govt through its agencies, including GDA.
It will also have to shell out nearly Rs 150 crore for Indirapuram’s handover to the civic corporation.
“With the change in rules, GDA may now have financial independence to undertake developmentwork,” the official said. GDA’s other sources of revenue include house and sewer tax, mutation charges and rent from properties among others.
