Realtors rush to deposit money for grabbed land

Vishav Bharti

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Chandigarh, February 15

Getting scare of legal action, a large number of realtors, who have panchayat lands in their possession, have made a beeline to deposit money to the government.

According to officials of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, 65 developers (almost 50 per cent) have submitted applications to the government, showing willingness to deposit money for the land, which falls inside their projects.

80 acres with developers

• 65 developers (almost 50 per cent) have submitted applications to the government, showing willingness to deposit money for the land, which falls inside their projects
• The DCs will form committees for fixing the land price
• The developers will pay as per price fixed by committees
• Around 80 acres of the panchayat land worth Rs 500 crore are lying inside the projects of realtors in Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bathinda

Financial Commissioner, Rural Development and Panchayats, K Sivaprasad said following the applications, the matter had been referred to the districts concerned.

The DCs would form committees for fixing the price of the land. The developers will pay as per the price fixed by the district committees, he said.

Now the DCs would analyse and fix the price keeping in view the rate on which the land was acquired in the district concerned in the past one year or the market rate on which registration of the land was executed.

Until The Tribune highlighted the scam in November-end, these developers in connivance with government officials didn’t pay a single penny to government despite the fact that huge chunks of panchayat lands fell inside their projects.

In its edition on December 1, The Tribune had reported that around 80 acres of the panchayat land worth Rs 500 crore were lying inside the projects of realtors in Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bathinda, but the department had failed to recover money from them. The land has been in possession of developers for more than one decade.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had ordered the department to recover money from them within three months. Taking cognisance of The Tribune report, the Enforcement Directorate had also started a probe into the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.