Whether it was the effect of the strict guidelines laid down by the Election Commission of India to curb election expenditures or otherwise, sale of land in Nainital district during the lok Sabha polls remained restricted, resulting in loss of nearly one crore to the Government exchequer only from Haldwani, Kaladhungi and lalkuan tehsils/ assembly constituencies only in the month of April when election campaign for the lok Sabha polls was at its peak.
It is worth mention here that the aforesaid three assembly constituencies of the Nainital district i.e. Haldwani, lalkuan and Kaladhungi provide an ideal business opportunity to the land dealers as this area covers Terai- Bhabar region which is suitable for both agriculture and commercial as well as residential point of view.
However, the income of Rs 30616979 the Government received as stamp duty and registration fee through sale of land in Haldwani, lalkuan and Kaladhungi tehsils/ assembly constituencies in the month of April in 2013-2014, came down to 22356410 in the corresponding period this year i.e. in April 2014- 2015, showing a loss of Rs 8260569 in the current financial year.
It is worth mention here that while the Sub-registrar office -I, Haldwani looks after land dealing works of Kaladhungi tehsil/ assembly constituency and more than 100 revenue village of Haldwani tehsil / assembly constituency, the Sub-registrar office -II, Haldwani deals with land transaction works of lalkuan tehsil/ assembly constituency and more than 100 revenue villages of the Haldwani tehsil/ constituency.
But as the figures provided by the Sub-registrar office -I, Haldwani, the Government had to bear with major loss of revenue through land sale in the Kaladhungi tehsil/ assembly constituency and more than 100 revenue villages of Haldwani tehsil or assembly constituency.
Whereas as the aforesaid figures indicate, the Government got Rs 19218328 as stamp duty and registration fees through land dealing in April 2013-2014, its income remained only Rs 12941970 in April 2014-2015 showing a loss of Rs 6276358 only in the month of April in the current financial year.
However, the loss in terms of stamp duty and registration fee that the Government had to suffer due to less land sale in lalkuan and more than 100 villages of the Haldwani constituencies, was recorded comparatively less after sale of land in the month of April 2014-2015 as compared to the corresponding period of the financial year 2013-2014.
As the figures provide by the Sub registrar office- II suggest, while the Government received Rs 11398651 as stamp duty and registration fee after sale of land in the month of April of the financial year 2013-2014, the income from the same sources came down to only Rs 9414440 in April -2014-2015 showing a loss of Rs 1984211.
This is the loss that the Government of Uttarakhand had to suffer in only three tehsils/ assembly constituencies of the Nainital district. As the land dealers here believe the decline in sale of land in other parts of the districts including tourist destinations like Ramnagar, Bhimtal to name a few would not be less.
As the property experts here maintain since the purchasers and sellers of land show less transaction of land deal in papers to avoid tax using cash as mode of payment, perhaps to avoid any kind of risk of seizure of cash in large amount during election period, the land dealers restricted their land related works during that period resulting in less sale of land during the recently concluded general elections.
More so, the property experts apprehend, since panchayat poll process is also on so it seems the people involved in property business will have to wait at least for a month to transact their pending land related works.