#RealtyNewsRoundup: Haryana Changes Law To Unlocks 30,000 Ha Of Protected Land For Development

The Haryana Assembly on February 27 passed amendments to the Punjab Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2019, opening up thousands of acres of land to real estate and other non-forest activity that were protected under it for over a century. Chief Minister M L Khattar said the change was the need of the hour. The amendment is likely to open up as many as 30,000 hectares of protected land for development.

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Credit rating agency Moody's has said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate cut on under-construction flats will boost housing sales, but may hit profit margins of builders with withdrawal of input tax credit (ITC). The GST Council had on February 24 decided to cut GST rate on affordable homes to one per cent without ITC, from earlier eight per cent with ITC.

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Presenting a vote-on-account in the Legislative Assembly, the Maharashtra government on February 27 allocated Rs 6,895 crore for affordable housing and Rs 2,400 crore for smart cities and the Amrut Mission. Additionally, the government said the Metro network in state capital Mumbai would be extended to 276 km from the current 11.4 km. The Metro network would also be extended to satellite towns surrounding Mumbai such as Thane, Mira-Bhayander, Vasai Virar, Kalyan-Dombivali and Bhiwandi.

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The Income Tax (I-T) Department has asked taxpayers to link their bank accounts with their PAN (permanent account number), saying it would issue refunds only via the electronic mode beginning March. Till now, the department used to issue refunds to taxpayers either in their bank accounts or through account payee cheques, in a case-to-case basis, depending on the category of taxpayers.

Source: Media reports