Tirupati: Registrations revenue takes a huge hit

Tirupati: Despite the adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the stamps and registrations department has increased the land values since August 10 in the state. Normally, the land values will be revised from August 1 every year in urban areas and once in two years in rural areas. While this has to be done by obtaining public opinion, that exercise was not done this time.

The new increased rates came into force from August 10. The increase would be less than 20 per cent with some exceptions every year whereas this time the values have been revised by a maximum of 30 per cent in many areas, according to officials though the actual increase was several times more than this in some busy areas.

The incomes of the department has depleted much in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic. While the target given for Sri Balaji Registration District, Tirupati, for 2019-20 was 290 crore, only 78.8 per cent (Rs 229 crore) was achieved.

After the lockdown, in July 2020 the district achieved 47.56 per cent of its proportionate target of Rs 98 crore by getting only Rs 47 crore. This was much lower than the achievement in the corresponding month in 2019 during which the district earned 80.65 per cent of its target, said V Pushpa Latha, DIG, registrations and stamps, Chittoor.

At a time when the Covid-19 lockdown hit every section of the society hard, the people were not in a position to make any decisions with huge investments. Many people have been postponing the property dealings in view of the uncertainty in assured incomes.

A document writer said that there was a huge drop in number of registrations with sellers looking at the conducive atmosphere to sell their properties as buyers are not coming forward due to lack of finance. The increase in land values will be an added burden on them.

President of CREDAI Tirupati chapter Rajasekhar Gupta said that they have requested the government not to make any hike and even reduce the stamp duty this year in view of the prevailing situation. Maharashtra government has reduced the stamp duty by 50 per cent till December 31. There is a huge uncertainty in the market due to which several projects have been stopped midway, he said.