Bhubaneswar: In a relief to households and homebuyers, the cabinet on Wednesday approved a new city gas distribution policy to speed up PNG and CNG roll-out, reduced stamp duty costs for apartment associations and changed rules to improve delivery of public services.Amid the ongoing LPG crisis, the cabinet cleared Odisha City Gas Distribution (CGD) Policy to ensure faster and wider access to piped natural gas (PNG) for households and CNG for vehicles. The policy does away with multiple clearances and creates a single, unified framework, chief secretary Anug Garg said.“The policy is expected to speed up project execution and make cleaner, more reliable and cheaper cooking and transport fuel available to consumers sooner,” Garg said.The housing and urban development department has been made the nodal agency for its implementation, supported by a state-level high-powered committee and district monitoring panels. With no financial burden on the state govt and a one-time moratorium on approval fees till March 2027, officials said the policy will encourage private investment, generate jobs and help expand the city gas networks to more urban centres, benefiting households, commuters and small businesses alike.The cabinet also approved amendments to the Odisha Apartment (Ownership and Management) Act, 2023, substantially reducing the stamp duty burden on Association of Allottees (AOA). Under the revised provisions, AOAs can pay a nominal stamp duty of Rs 50,000 for execution of the deed of conveyance for transfer of common areas and facilities, against the earlier rate of 5%, which was running into lakhs depending on the land size.Stamp duty for individual apartment units, including the undivided share in common areas, will now be collected at the time of execution of individual conveyance deeds. Further, the earlier three-slab stamp duty structure of 3%, 4% and 5% has been replaced with a uniform 5% rate at the time of apartment registration.Officials said the amendments are aimed at simplifying the registration process, removing procedural bottlenecks and safeguarding government revenue. To give effect to the changes, the cabinet approved promulgation of an ordinance to amend the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.The cabinet also approved amendments to the Odisha Right to Public Services Rules, 2012 to introduce an auto-appeal system. Under the new provision, online applications for notified services that cross the prescribed time limit will be automatically escalated to the appellate or revisional authority, strengthening accountability and time-bound service delivery.In a push to strengthen data-led governance, the cabinet approved the Odisha State Data Policy 2.0, which seeks to institutionalise a comprehensive data governance framework covering the entire data lifecycle across state government departments and affiliated bodies.A multi-tier governance structure has been approved for implementation. While state data steering and governance committees will provide strategic oversight, the state data authority will guide data governance, protection, interoperability and capacity-building efforts.
