Chandigarh, January 6
Thanks to certain conscientious senior officers, a major policy change by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has been withheld, at least for the time-being. The immediate beneficiary of the policy change would have been a trust named after former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.
The policy change was approved at a meeting of the authority held under the chairmanship of the Town and Country Planning Minister, Mr Dhir Pal, here on December 28. However, the officers have withheld the minutes of the meeting in view of the code of conduct enforced by the Election Commission.
It is a pleasant departure from the past reputation of HUDA, which is often accused by the Opposition of being helpful to big builders and colonisers at the cost of the common man.
According to informed sources, the change in the existing policy was initiated at the request of the Choudhary Devi Lal Memorial Trust, Sirsa, which had requested for exemption from the payment of external development charges (EDC). It may be mentioned here that HUDA charges Rs 15.33 lakh per acre as EDC from all those who are given licences to develop their own complexes within a residential sector developed by HUDA in an urban area.
The Sirsa trust, the sources say, owns land measuring 1,07881.49 sq. yrds within the controlled area of Sirsa town. It was required to pay about Rs 3.5 crore as EDC. However, the trust represented to HUDA that it should be exempted from paying EDC on the plea that it was developing a regional-level institute of advanced learning, which would serve the people of Sirsa in Haryana, Abohar and Bhatinda in Punjab and Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan.
The trust also pleaded that since it would develop its own infrastructure, including roads, sewerage, power substation, water supply and street light, no EDC should be charged from it.
The existing HUDA policy does not allow any exemption. In case the proposed complex falls in an area already developed by HUDA, the total amount of EDC has to be paid in one go. However, if the proposed complex is outside the area already developed by HUDA, the EDC can be paid in instalments. HUDA charges 10 per of the EDC initially and 40 per cent is recovered when the area around the proposed complex is acquired by HUDA. The remaining 50 per cent is payable in four equal annual instalments with 15 per cent interest.
After receiving the trust representation, made on November 3 last, HUDA proposed that for institutions having an area of over 10 acre in the urbanisation zone, no EDC should be charged for direct services like water supply, sewerage, power substation and street lights. However, charges for indirect services may be charged as per the existing policy. The sources say under the new policy, about 70 per cent of the total EDC from the Devi Lal Trust would have been exempted.
The Authority approved the proposed changes. However, before it could be implemented, senior officers decided that in view of the code of conduct, it would be improper to implement the changed policy as the Election Commission could have viewed it as an "allurement" to the voters.
In another major decision taken by the authority at the December 28 meeting, a private builder, Samar Estate, was allowed to have a consolidated chunk of land measuring 21.74 acre in Sector 20, Panchkula. The builder was given land by its owners to float a group housing colony. Since the land was scattered in six pockets, the builder could not float a group housing colony. The authority allowed HUDA to exchange over five acres with the applicant.
Senior HUDA officers, however, say the exchange of land by HUDA with that of a private coloniser is allowed under the existing policies because it benefits both.
