MP govt to tweak rules to regularise illegal colonies: Chouhan

Bhopal, Dec 15: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today told the Legislative Assembly that rules would be "tweaked" and made "people-friendly" to facilitate the process of regularising illegal colonies in the state.

"We are going to tweak the rules and make them people-friendly for regularising the illegal colonies," Chouhan told the House during the Question Hour while replying to a query.

The rule to collect 50 per cent development charges from the residents of illegal colonies to regularise their tenements by upgrading infrastructure, was burdening occupants of such localities, he said.

"The remaining 50 per cent expenditure for regularising colonies was borne by civic bodies and the state government," he said.

The government now plans to collect only 20 per cent development charges from the occupants for regularising their localities, he added. Sometimes, people spend their hard-earned money not knowing the locality where they were putting in their capital was illegal, he said.

"Therefore, we are going to make the rules more people-friendly to regularise the illegal colonies," he added. However, the Chief Minister also made it clear that the state government was working towards ensuring that no new illegal colonies come up in the state.

The Chief Minister gave this assurance in response to a question raised by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member Usha Choudhary, who sought to know the status of regularising some 138 illegal colonies in Satna district where she belongs. In July this year, Chouhan had announced that illegal colonies in Satna would be regularised.

PTI