UT Admn buys land for peanuts, sells it for crores

2002: Administration acquires around 70 acres in Badheri village for Rs 11.80-lakh per acre to build school. The land lies unused and it isn’t clear as to what the Administration will do with it.

2004: Land for IT Park (Phase I and II) acquired in Kishangarh village over a period of time. Firstly, 111 acres acquired between 1950 and 1977 to set up brick kilns. These were never built and the land was lying unutilised. As the IT Park was to be set up here, the demand for land increased. In 2004, 267 acres of land was acquired again at Rs 10 lakh an acre. Around 123 acres was sold off to Parsvnath for Rs 821 crore. The Chandigarh Housing Board was to earn 30 per cent share from the housing project.   

The UT Administration has indeed been acquiring land in various villages in the periphery of the city at low prices, only to sell them later at whopping prices after keeping them unused for a few years.

The trend of haphazardly acquiring land, mainly for development purposes, exposes the lack of planning by the Chandigarh Administration. The development purposes, like building housing societies and schools, were later written off and the same land was sold to private developers for handsome profits.

The Administration is already under a scanner for selling off some of these lands to private developers for mega-projects like Medicity, Theme Park, Filmcity and IT Park. These have not been started yet, 2-3 years after MoUs were signed between the Administration and the developers.

The facts, when was the land bought by the Administration and for what purposes, were procured through a Right to Information application filed by the Manimajra Farmers Association.

Lately, the farmers and residents of the area, whose lands are being acquired at the same old rates, have upped the ante against the Administration, accusing it of not adopting the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy.

Angrez Singh, president of the Pind Bachao Committee, and a resident of Badheri village said the Administration acquired 70 acres of land in the village at Rs 11.80 lakh per acre in 2002. The price of land has increased substantially and in a few years, the Administration will be able to make a handsome profit out of it.

Singh said: “We have been fighting court cases for an increase in the compensation but have been partially successful. The Administration is acting like a property dealer. The land in Badheri was acquired at Rs 600 per kanal in 1970s and recently some part was sold off for Rs 13 crore per kanal.”

Probably the worse are the Sarangpur villagers. While land here was acquired for Rs 10-15 lakh per acre in 2002, the Administration has now offered to acquire 100 acres more for Rs 7.5 lakh per acre.

The calculation of the compensation is done on basis of the prices in the past three years. Since agricultural land cannot be sold for housing or commercial purposes, the prices remain low. Once the Administration sells it after acquisition, it is for development of various projects. So while the land is bought at low prices, it is sold off at exorbitant rates.

UT Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar said: “The price of land is according to the land use. When land use is changed, the price certainly goes up. Moreover, when the land is acquired only 40 per cent of it is sold off. The remaining is used to develop open spaces and infrastructure. We incur expenses on the development of the land. I have, meanwhile, had a discussion with the Deputy Commissioner as to why there is so much difference between the acquisition price and its sale later. A report is being prepared. In case there are discrepancies, we would consider an increase in compensation.”

H S Johal, president of the Manimajra Farmers’ Welfare and Environment Protection Society says the Administration is showing an undue haste in acquiring land. “There appears to be no public purpose involved in displacing so many people. The compensation is low and most of the land lies unutilised for long. The land that is being acquired was supposed to be a green belt as per the plans of Le Corbusier. The concept of the city has been tampered with,” he alleged.

Pawan Bansal, Union Minister of State for Finance, said: “Farmers in Punjab have been given up to Rs 5 crore per acre for land acquisition. Farmers here are not even given enough compensation to buy a house for themselves. While land is being acquired at low prices, the houses constructed on it are priced very high. The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy 2007 is also not being implemented. We will make sure that the Administration agrees on the implementation of the policy. In case farmers move court and the case is settled in their favour, who will be responsible to pay them the money along with the interest.”