Post land pooling jolt, Punjab eyes GMADA assets to fund schemes

After withdrawing the land pooling policy, the Punjab Government is eyeing the Rs 20,000-crore property of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to raise a loan against it to fund its populist schemes.

Following consultations with the Finance Department, the Housing and Urban Development Department was asked to prepare an inventory (properties to be auctioned) of GMADA, including residential, commercial and industrial sites in Mohali. The issue was discussed at a recent meeting chaired by Chief Secretary KAP Sinha. The Chief Secretary, however, did not respond to calls for comments.

Sources said with meagre land capital and limited properties to auction, six of the eight housing development authorities — Amritsar, Bathinda, Patiala, Jalandhar, Sri Anandpur Sahib (Urban) and Dera Baba Nanak — were struggling to meet their administrative expenses. Only GMADA and the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority were financially sound. At present, GMADA owes a loan of nearly Rs 5,000 crore to financial institutions.

The sources said a part of the total inventory could be used to raise a loan from financial institutions to fund populist scheme such as providing Rs 1,100 monthly assistance to women above 18 years of age.

Defending the move, officials said there was nothing new in the practice. The previous governments had not only mortgaged assets of the state to raise loans but had even pledged future income to raise resources. During the SAD-BJP government, the state government had raised a loan of Rs 2,000 crore by mortgaging its properties to banks. The properties were transferred to PUDA for auction after developing these under the optimum utilisation of vacant government land scheme.

Meanwhile, with the state government reportedly directing various departments, including Industries, to deposit a collective amount of Rs 1,441.49 crore in its account, the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) Mulazam Union, associated with the Punjab Subordinate Service Federation, expressed concern over reports that a proposal was under consideration to transfer Rs 500 crore from the financial reserves of the corporation to the government and observed a pen-down strike at the head office of the Industries Department here.

A meeting of the Board of Directors to discuss the issue was postponed.

The protesting employees feared that the move would severely damage the financial health of the corporation and jeopardise the livelihood of nearly 700 families, who depend on the PSIEC, said Ravinder Singh Randhawa, chairman of the union.