Bankrupt Haryana may sell its real-estate

Bankrupt Haryana may sell its real-estate
NAVNEET SHARMA

CHANDIGARH, APRIL 20: Faced with a severe financial crunch, the Haryana Government is planning to auction or commercialise its prime properties worth hundreds of crores of rupees, lying unused in and outside the state, to fill its coffers.

Highly-placed sources said the government has huge assets -- particularly plots of land in prime locations -- in the state, Delhi and other areas, which have been lying unused for the past several years. The main objective is to utilise these prime properties to raise money for development work, they said.

The Government is learnt to have already initiated a `land audit' to identify such properties of each department in the state, they added. Instructions to this effect have been issued to all Heads of Departments, Divisional Commissioners (Ambala, Gurgaon, Hisar and Rothak) and Deputy Commissioners to furnish complete details of their departments to enable the government make best possible use of its assets, according to sources.

In a directive, Haryana Chief Secretary Ram S Varma has asked the officers to provide the required information to State Planning Board Deputy Chairman R S Chaudhary in the next three days. When asked, Chaudhary said the government is currently taking stock of its land and buildings. ``We will decide the future course of action later,'' he added.

The move is not new: Mool Chand Jain, Deputy Chairman of State Planning Board in the Devi Lal government had floated a similar idea in 1987. The government had given a huge plot of land belonging to the police to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for commercial use. The authority had to assess its value and pay half of that to the police department, it is learnt.

Similarly, some other prime properties such as the residence of Deputy Commissioner (Rohtak) were also considered for commercial use. But the plan could not be carried out due to opposition from the bureaucracy. Chances are this time too, the response won't be any different.