Mumbai, April 8 The Maharashtra government has waived royalty on minor minerals excavated during construction if they are used at the same site, and will launch an online non-agricultural (NA) permission process within 10 days to provide relief to the construction sector, a state minister said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule also assured that a meeting with concerned officials would be convened to address issues related to municipal records and property card entries.
He held a meeting with representatives of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) at the Mantralaya here to discuss issues faced by developers across the state and pending demands. Several decisions were taken to accelerate the construction sector and simplify administrative procedures.
Regarding royalty levied for excavation during construction, the minister addressed concerns raised by CREDAI.
The key decision states that no royalty will be charged if minor minerals extracted during excavation are utilized at the same project site, which is expected to reduce costs. The royalty payment process will also be simplified and made applicable for a six-month period.
To reduce delays and procedural complexities in obtaining NA permissions, the revenue department has set a time-bound programme. The entire NA process will be made fully operational online within the next 10 days, which is expected to remove administrative hurdles in housing projects, he said.
The meeting also discussed adopting the "Pune pattern" of a digital tracking system implemented by the Pune district administration, which has been found effective. There was a positive discussion on extending this transparent system across the state, he said in the statement.
Further, the minister agreed in principle to CREDAI's demand that any registered document should be promptly reflected in the property card records.
Administrative steps to implement these decisions have been expedited. Separate meetings have been scheduled with Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide and Settlement Commissioner Ravindra Binwade, with directions issued to resolve technical issues at the earliest.