The Delhi Government has decided to ask the Union Urban Development Ministry to allot land for public utilities free of cost. The Urban Development Department of Delhi Government is bringing in a Cabinet proposal seeking land free of cost for public utilities. The proposal is likely to be discussed in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
According to the proposal, the Delhi Government wants land allocation share at par with other Union Territories. After the Cabinet approval, the proposal will be put up before the Urban Development Ministry. Presently, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which comes under Urban Development Ministry, controls land in the national Capital.
The proposal further states that the DDA should provide land to Delhi at either free of cost or at concessional rates for public utilities. Citing a case of Ambedkar University, the proposal stated that the Government has paid `150 crore as land cost to DDA. It is noteworthy that the DDA had earlier fixed price of `188 lakh per acre for hospital which is now increased to `300.15 lakh per acre in the national Capital. Similarly, the land price for Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) depot or setting up a workshop is fixed `414 lakh per acre while for technical educational institutes; the cost of land is fixed `253 lakh per acre. These rates are applicable for State Government only.
Top sources told The Pioneer that Urban Development Ministry should bring an amendment in the land allocation clause to Delhi and the policy of land allocation should be at par with other Union Territories. “Delhi is the only Union Territory where land owning agency is under Urban Development Ministry. There are several projects, which either could not be started till date as DDA has failed to provide land to the Government,” said sources.
Earlier, the Delhi Government had already written to the Union Urban Development Ministry asking for DDA’s money to fund phase-III of the Metro after the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) reportedly expressed reluctance to give more money for the phase-III in 2010. In 2008, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had stated that the Delhi Government should have land its command to help it deliver better.
According to data, the DDA has estimated that around 1,398.53 acres of its land has been encroached, most of it in eastern Delhi. It was found that total amount of land encroached in east Delhi was 679.84 acres, of which, 545.59 acres was occupied by unauthorised colonies. The second highest amount of land encroached was in North Delhi was 130.06 acres was under slum clusters. Since 1957, when it was set-up, the DDA had acquired more than 76,000 acres of land for various development works. But officials said that the DDA had faced encroachment problems right from the start.