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Kerala govt to reduce building permit fee Edu institutio­ns to get industry parks

THIRUVANAN­THAPURAM:

The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to reduce the building permit fees up to 60 per cent in the state.

The government had exempted buildings up to 80 square metres from the permit fee last year.

The new rate would reduce the permit fee by at least 50 per cent for houses with an area from 81 square metres to 300 square metres, Local Self-Government Department (LSGD) Minister

M B Rajesh said here.

The permit fee for houses with an area between 81 and 150 square metres would be reduced by 60 per cent within the Corporatio­n limit, he told a press conference here.

The new rates would come into effect on August 1, he said.

As per the new decision, the permit fee for houses with 81 to 150 square metres of area would be reduced from Rs 50 to Rs 150 per square metre in village panchayats, he said.

The fee would be reduced from Rs 70 to Rs 35 in municipali­ties and from Rs 100 to Rs 40 in corporatio­ns.

Though the present building permit fee in the state is the lowest in the country, the government has decided to reduce it by more than half in view of people’s demand, the Minister explained.

He said the state government has also decided to grant a rebate of five per cent if one year’s property tax is remitted to the respective local body by April 30, the first month of the financial year. Rajesh said this is the first time in the history of Kerala that such an exemption is being given to taxpayers.

THIRUVANAN­THAPURAM: The

Kerala government on Wednesday launched an ambitious programme to address the lack of available land for industrial infrastruc­ture developmen­t and to tackle the issue of industry-academic disconnect in

Kerala by starting campus industry parks in educationa­l institutio­ns across the state.

Kerala Law and Industries Minister P Rajeeve inaugurate­d the State Industries Department’s programme, terming it a historic initiative that would transform the future of industries in Kerala.

“Already, 80 educationa­l institutio­ns have expressed their interest in starting campus industry parks, and this year we will be giving permission to 25 of them,” Rajeeve said.

The industry department, along with the higher education department in Kerala, conducted a land mapping of educationa­l institutio­ns in the state and discovered that many of them have excess land beyond the stipulated area required by the governing authoritie­s.

Though the present building permit fee in the state is the lowest in the country, the government has decided to reduce it by more than half