Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is unlikely to extend the last date, February 5, 2020, for the Amnesty Scheme, which allows the residents to regularise the unauthorised constructions.
The Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department has said that the existing Amnesty Scheme expires February 5 in areas under nine development authorities in the state.
The existing scheme is in force in Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Cuttack Development Authority (CDA), Rourkela Development Authority (RDA), Talcher-Angul-Mermunduli Development Authority, Berhampur Development Authority, Sambalpur Development Authority, Puri-Konark Development Authority, Kalinga Nagar Development Authority and Paradip Development Authority.
According to a senior official from the H&UD department, enforcement activities will be carried out extensively from February 6 onwards and the concerned authorities will initiate action against those found guilty under the Orissa Development Authority (ODA) Act 1982.
Notably, the H&UD department had, in June, 2018, introduced Amnesty Scheme – Regularisation of Unauthorised Constructions 2018, Sarbakshama Yojana – for housing plan violations within BDA area.
Later, the BDA again introduced the revised Amnesty Scheme August 6, 2019 for a period of six months until February 5, 2020 in order to help more and more people apply and take benefit of the scheme.
“So far, we have received around 3,900 applications with two weeks to go for the deadline to expire,” Gouri Shankar Bhuyan, Planning Member of BDA, said.