Chandigarh, October 29
The recent rift between UT administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) and his adviser Pradip Mehra over the evaluation of 45 acre of prime land for the controversial Medicity project in IT Park area in Manimajra has once again brought the spotlight on the lopsided land acquisition policy of the administration, which on the face of it appears questionable.
The net result of the UT administration’s policy and the manner in which it is implemented amounts to paying less to the farmers whose land have been acquired. But at the same time its tends to benefit the private developers and promoters of the Medicity as well as other UT projects under the so called private-public participation (PPP) and revenue sharing models.
The Medicity committee, set up by the administrator, has evaluated the cost of 45 acre of land at Rs 1358 crore by dividing it into three parts - 70 per cent at institutional rates, 25 per cent at residential rates and 5 per cent on commercial rates. While it has taken the value of the commercial land at Rs 2,90,570 per sq yard and residential at Rs 50,304 per sq yard, based on the auction prices of commercial and residential properties by the administration on December 17, 2007, the institutional rate has been calculated on the basis of the average rate for the residential sites in the same auction. Thus the cost of per acre of land works out close to Rs 30.18 crore. The committee has proposed to fix Rs 203.70 crore as the reserve upfront fee for the Medicity, proposed to be set up under the PPP model.
However, if one goes by the UT adviser’s estimate, who has pegged the land cost at Rs 2000 crore and also objected to the committee’s move to calculate 70 per cent of land cost at institutional rates, the per acre cost of the land works out to Rs 44.44 crore per acre. The figure would be even higher if one takes the rates being offered by private realtors.
As compared to this, the administration, as of date is, offering merely Rs 18.75 lakh per acre to the farm owners in Manimajra area, which in fact is even lower than the so-called collector rate fixed by the administration itself. And if one goes back to 1993 when this particular chunk of 45 acre (in the vicinity of Kishangarh area near Durga nursery) was acquired, farmers were merely offered Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.80 lakh per acre.
The administration’s lopsided acquisition and a land disposal policy don’t end here. In a bid to allegedly benefit private developers, the administration has circumvented the procedures and allotted land at prices much lower than the market value to certain developers.
Questions on this are not only being raised in the public domain but even the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) has raised objection on it. The CAG had categorically told the UT that the Rs 831 crore land deal between Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) and
Parsavnath Developers to develop IT Habitat, a residential and commercial area adjacent to the IT park, caused a loss of around Rs 1,200 crore to the union government as the land was transferred at a concessional rate to the CHB.
The CAG had pointed out that price of land was around Rs 18.50 crore an acre and it was a purely commercial venture to sell flats at a high cost. Interestingly, around the same time a four-acre residential complex was auctioned in Manimajra for around Rs 108 crore and a hotel site was auctioned to DLF for Rs 75 crore.
“If the administration wants to give undue benefit to the private developers under different revenue model like the public partnership mode or as a joint venture, why it is denying the fruits of benefit to the farmers”, said Maj R.S. Virk (retd), general secretary of the Pind Bachao Committee.
The Manimajra Farmers Welfare and Environment Protection Society points out that it is not the underselling of land in Manimajra area only. Even in the Sarangpur area, around 30 acre of land for Filmcity has been disposed off at around Rs 6 crore per acre whereas the market rate was much more. A different revenue sharing model has been adopted for the theme and amusement park in the Sarangpur area.
On the other hand, the compensation offered to farmers in Sarangpur-Khuda Lahora belt was Rs 9.75 lakh an acre (2002) Rs 15 lakh an acre (2004), Rs 25 lakh (2005) and Rs 7.5 lakh (2008). “Whether Rs 7 or Rs 15 lakh it is a mockery of the democratic set-up. When states across the country are linking the revenue earned for land allotment to the land compensation offered to the farmers, the UT is following its own centuries old unrealistic formulae of handing down the compensation”, said Angrez Singh, president of the UT Pind Bachao Committee.
In the IT park, the land for the I and II phases was acquired at a rate of Rs 10.5 lakh an acre (2004) and for the phase III (under litigation) was Rs 18.75 lakh an acre (2007). The allotment rates work out to Rs 40 lakh an acre to Rs 1 crore an acre.
When it is the question of welfare state, the UT happily doles out vote-bank stick to give tenements to the jhuggi dwellers but when the genuine farmers raise their voice, the land acquisition act is quoted. Even the encroachment is a serious crime and the apex court has time and again spoken against rehabilitating the illegal colonies. The administration should become public on the distinction between the two contrasts, point out the landowners.
While the administration admits to an average increase of 30 per cent on rates of land while justifying the fixing of value of agricultural land at RS 46.80 lakh an acre as the collector rate to charge the stamp duty, it refuses the same justification while acquiring land in UT
villages.
To be continued
