Fund-starved HUDA seeks loan to pay farmers, contractors

FARIDABAD: The local office of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) appears to be struggling on the financial front. With internal sources of income squeezing, HUDA is reportedly seeking a loan of several thousand crores to clear dues it owes to farmers of the district.

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 16

The local office of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) appears to be struggling on the financial front. With internal sources of income squeezing, HUDA is reportedly seeking a loan of several thousand crores to clear dues it owes to farmers of the district.

Besides this, it owes over Rs 70 crore to contractors. HUDA’s financial condition has worsened as the budget has been curtailed over the years and there is a sharp decline in sources of income.

“The budget of the HUDA office which used to be over Rs 400 crore per annum two years ago has got reduced drastically to around Rs 150 crore at present,” said HUDA Workers’ Union circle secretary Naresh Kumar.

Blaming HUDA’s wrong policies and inability to change with times, Kumar said the local office stared at shutdown in future. He said HUDA was still procuring land at abnormally high rates, thus creating financial burden itself. With real estate already in crisis, the auctioning of commercial sites and resumed plots had been unattractive for many, he said, adding the department hadn’t thought of multi-story housing schemes yet which could help in generating revenue.

The HUDA Workers’ Union circle secretary said while HUDA had applied for a special loan of Rs 5,000 crore to meet expenses statewide, the local office only owed Rs 2,400 crore to farmers of several villages of the district whose land had been acquired in the past.

The situation doesn’t seem to be improving in near future. In Greater Faridabad, the internal development of new sectors has been pending due to shortage of funds. The civic upkeep of several residential sectors has been taken over by the Faridabad Municipal Corporation. Besides, HUDA has been asked to handover the construction and maintenance of sewerage, water supply and storm water drainage to the Public Health and Engineering Department. These developments have only led to shrinking of income avenues, which even HUDA Administrator Yashender Singh admitted. He, however, said he was not aware of the actual amount of loan sought by the department.