Lucknow: Urban services and infrastructure in UP will be strengthened through an additional Rs 1,300 crore. Removing a procedural roadblock, the stamp and registration department would hand over the funds from its coffers to urban local bodies and housing development authorities to take up urban infrastructure works.At the time of execution of a sale deed for any property, 2% of the total charges are taken from a buyer as an infrastructure fund. The amount collected at the office of the sub-registrar is meant to be transferred to the local urban body or govt agency responsible for providing the basic infrastructure in the locality. “Let us assume an individual buys a commercial property in the Hazratganj area. In such a case, 2% of the stamp duty will be kept aside to develop the infrastructure in the locality. The amount collected shall be transferred to the local body and, in this case, Lucknow Municipal Corporation will be the beneficiary. We are supposed to pay the money on a quarterly basis,” said a senior officer from the stamp department. However, the local body has to provide a utilisation certificate to the stamp and registration department after using the money for developing basic infrastructure such as sewer lines, drainage systems and water supply networks, among others, and the instalment is released in instalments once the stamp and registration department is assured that the money was used to develop the infrastructure in a particular city or town. “But due to procedural lapses such as delayed tendering, frequent transfer of staff members, or other administrative reasons such as polls, execution of work gets delayed and cannot take place in the same quarter. Over the years, a large amount gets accumulated,” said a senior officer from the directorate of the urban local bodies. In some cases, urban local bodies and other agencies were found using the fund for purposes other than developing infrastructure. Stamp and registration minister (independent) Ravindra Jaiswal said, “We will come up with a solution to this problem. Our officials are working on removing hurdles. But we would still have a system in place to ascertain the money is being used prudently.” While Rs 1,300 crore accumulated in the 2024-25 financial year, in the current financial year an additional Rs 730 crore is due to be paid. So, while LMC is expected to get Rs 53 crore in tranches, the civic body in Ayodhya would receive Rs 2.9 crore once the hurdle is brought down. Similarly, funds will be transferred to more than 750 urban local bodies, 29 housing development agencies, special development areas, as well as industrial bodies and authorities.
