MP: House construction a tough chapter for Sehore residents due tp alleged hike in development charges

Sehore (Madhya Pradesh): Residents of Sehore town are going through a rough patch lately, in terms of construction of houses and commercial buildings. They have alleged that amidst soaring rates of construction material, the development charges set by the Sehore municipality are almost double, as compared to the municipalities in other towns, due to which they could end up in dire financial straits.

Reportedly, the urban development cess had been increased in the Sehore municipality in December 2021 during the administrator’s tenure. The charges had been raised from Rs 16 per square feet to Rs 50 per square feet. Under this, the residents are being charged additional money in the name of town development, labour fee, water harvesting charges, permit fee and garbage vehicle fee, to issue a No-objection certificate (NOC) for building construction. Prashant Gupta, a resident of Sehore, said that he had applied in the Sehore municipality for purchasing a one thousand square feet plot, for which he was charged Rs 50 thousand as development charges, and Rs 25 thousand as other charges.

Another resident, Aakash Bhairave said that fee for other works such as labour charges, water harvesting charges, permit fee and garbage vehicle fee must be charged from the colonizers and not from the residents. He added that when facilities such as electricity, water, road are nowhere to be found, how are the charges justified?

When Sehore municipality chairman Prince Rathore was contacted regarding the issue, he said that the amount had been hiked during the administrator’s tenure, which will be cut down in the next meeting by 50 percent.