Mohali, June 9 -- Over 30,000 residents of Mohali's Sectors 76 to 80 may finally get some respite as the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has proposed to slash the enhancement charges by Rs.800 per square yard. The rate, previously pegged at Rs.3,164 per square yard, will be revised to Rs.2,364, if approved. But for residents, who have waited over a decade on tenterhooks, this relief feels like too little, too late. In 2013, the rates ranged from Rs.700 to Rs.850 per square yard, depending on plot size - nearly three to four times lower than the amount being sought now, due to accumulating interest. The root of allottees' suffering lies in GMADA's decade-long lapse. Enhancement charges refer to the additional compensation GMADA pays to landowners against land acquisition, later passed on to allottees who buy the plots carved out from the acquired land. In the case of Sectors 76 to 80, the enhancement cost arose in 2013 after the Supreme Court directed GMADA to disburse enhanced payments totalling Rs.300 crore to land owners against the land acquired for the scheme. GMADA, through allotment letters, had already obtained undertakings from the allottees, agreeing to pay these charges. But the authority did not issue any recovery notices to allottees for a decade. In 2022, an audit report flagged the authority's delay in recovering the enhancement charges, which were further accruing interest, since 2013. Finally springing into action, GMADA began issuing notices to allottees in May 2023, threatening cancellation of allotments if the payments were not paid. But the 10-year delay pushed up the interest to Rs.288 crore, ballooning the total demand to nearly Rs.600 crore - a burden now placed entirely on allottees' shoulders. The allottees have taken the matter to the Punjab and Haryana high court, where the next hearing is scheduled for September 9, 2025. "It's unjust. Why did GMADA not act in 2013 itself? Why have they suddenly woken up after a decade and transferred the burden of the climbing interest on the allottees. The delay is entirely on their part. So why should allottees foot the interest?" said Sardul Singh, press secretary of the Sector 76-80 Plot Allotment Welfare Committee. In its petition before the court, the welfare committee has demanded a complete waiver of the interest and further argued that GMADA has imposed another financial burden of Rs.5 crore on residents by including 82 acres from adjoining Sectors 85 and 89 into the boundaries of Sectors 76 to 80, further raising the owed enhancement cost. GMADA chief administrator Vishesh Sarangal said, "We have proposed to reduce the rate by Rs.800 and will soon send the proposal to the authority concerned for final approval."...