Pimpri: In a major setback to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) move to reserve a large portion of land for public purpose, the Central government asked the civic body to pay Rs 1,000 crore immediately if it needs this land.
The government said that otherwise, it has no right to reserve land belonging to public sector undertaking.
Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HA) is trying to sell 87.7 acres of its land through auction. It is revealed that HA is finding it difficult to seal the deal as private bidders are not allowed to participate in the auction.
Despite giving an extension for the bidding process, the company failed to receive any proposal for the purchase of land.
Meanwhile, it is being said that PCMC’s attempts to reserve 52 acres is creating obstacles in finalising any other deal. The PCMC announced it is planning to acquire this land by giving transferable development rights (TDR) to the company.
However, due to this, the scope for sale of the land diminished. In cases of acquisition of land by PCMC, the company will be left with no option but to raise funds through selling TDR to private builders.
As per the CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) directive, private bidders have been barred and institutions like City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) or Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) are the ones who would be likely winners of the bid.
However, no one has shown interest in the bid so far.
The Cabinet in December approved the sale of 87.7 acres of land of Hindustan Antibiotics.
The Cabinet had mandated that only that much surplus land of HA required to meet the liabilities (Rs 821.17 crore) be sold through open competitive bidding to government agencies and the outstanding liabilities be cleared from the sale proceeds.
Director of Town Planning Department of PCMC Prakash Thakur confirmed that PCMC has received a letter in this regard. He said, “The government has right to quote the cost of the land as per requirement of the company. But PCMC has also right to reserve land in its jurisdiction. We have considered several options for raising funds.”
