E-Khata bribe allegations shake Belagavi Council | Hubballi News
Belagavi: Accusations of widespread corruption in e-Khata registration at the Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) have sparked a heated debate. At Thursday’s council meeting, MLAs and corporators alleged that revenue staff is demanding bribes ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for property registrations. The claims fuelled public concern over transparency and accountability in the civic body.The process of e-Aasthi or e-Khata registration of properties under the classification of A, B, and C is underway in Belagavi city and across the district. An estimated 1.6 lakh properties need to be registered under e-Khata within the limits of Belagavi Corporation. The consolidation of documents required for e-property registration is facing many challenges as well.The common people are expressing strong dissatisfaction against this kind of exploitation, as the e-Khata registration will be processed only if the property owners come through intermediaries. A serious discussion took place in the BCC general meeting on the allegations of widespread corruption in e-Aasthi or e-Khata registration, arbitrary licensing of multi-storey buildings, and interference of middlemen in the documentation of properties.According to a person who works as a middleman in e-property registration, the properties with legal documents are fewer in the BCC limit. Now, efforts are underway to regularise such properties by creating records. Many public representatives, including MLAs, are supporting the regularisation of encroached properties. It has resulted in the presence of middlemen in the corporation. The middlemen have emerged to create legal documents.MLA Abhay Patil took the officials to task in the council meeting, saying that the officials apply the laws and rules only for poor and middle-class people. However, they do not ask anything of those who are illegally building 10 to 15-storey apartments in the city. He cautioned that if this kind of exploitation is not stopped, the MLAs themselves will have to start the e-Khata distribution campaign.
