The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD Councillors to approach L-G for prime land

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 08, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD Councillors to approach L-G for prime land

Staff Reporter

Concern over the manner in which DDA has handled the issue "The civic body has neither been given the land nor the money has been refunded"

NEW DELHI: Afraid of losing the civic body's prime land at Tehkhand to the Delhi Development Authority, Municipal Councillors have now decided to approach Lieutenant-Governor B.L. Joshi to demand that the land for which the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had already made payment and took possession in 1997 be immediately returned to it.

At the MCD Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that a group of senior Councillors would call upon Mr. Joshi, who is also DDA Chairman, to highlight how the Authority had unilaterally taken back land from the civic body and even auctioned it to a private party for a housing project.

The Councillors expressed serious concern over the functioning of DDA and raised questions over the manner in which the entire issue was handled.

They highlighted that the land was given to MCD for Rs.1.92 crores and later DDA not only took the land back, but also failed to return the money or to give land at alternative places as decided in various meeting between senior DDA and MCD officials.

In his reply on the issue, Municipal Commissioner A.K. Nigam stated that in 1997, DDA gave 32 acres of land to MCD at Tehkhand for Rs.1.92 crores, but possession of only 30.14 acre.

However, at a meeting in the presence of the then Lieutenant Governor in 1998, it was decided that the development of the land would be done by DDA. But MCD requested DDA to re-examine the entire matter as the former had committed to build houses for slum-dwellers on the land.

Later, the matter was discussed at higher levels and it was only in 2005 that it was decided that equivalent land should be allotted to MCD at Rajpur Khurd and Maidan Garhi.

But the civic body has neither been given the land nor refunded its money, said Mr. Nigam in his reply.

Equivalent land

He further pointed out that DDA later said that the amount of Rs.1.92 crores had been adjusted against the land allotted to MCD at Molarband and Rohini, which was factually incorrect. Moreover, an amount of Rs.4,287.69 crores was due to MCD from DDA for which the civic body had requested the Authority on several occasions but to no avail, he added.

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