Unused plots in Salt Lake draw govt attention

Suman Chakraborti TNN

Kolkata: Owners of idle plots in Salt Lake will soon be served notices, asking them to make use of the land, failing which they must hand over the land to the state. Idle plots in the township will be identified through a survey by the state urban development department. “Notices will be sent soon,” said department
secretary Debasis Sen.
    Those who can’t comply by starting construction will be asked to inform the authorities so that government
could delve into the reason/ reasons behind the delay.
    There are quite a few idle residential and commercial
plots, ranging from two to five cottahs, in Salt Lake. Many of these plots have become waste dumps over a period of time. Rules state that the urban development department can serve notices on plotholders who don’t start construction within three years of taking land on lease. If the notice isn’t replied to in six months, the plot can be taken back.
    The Bidhannagar Municipality had earlier tried to identify such plots but could not contact the owners. The Left Front government also formed a committee under then chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb to identify such plots so that they could be re-distributed. However, the move didn’t progress.
    Some senior Salt Lake residents recently submitted a memorandum to chief minister Mamata Banerjee asking her to look into illegal transfer and sale of plots in the township, a long-standing problem. “Plots in Salt Lake are all leased out. While plots are distributed for costs ranging between Rs 2,750 to Rs 5,000 per cottah, depending on location, a cottah of land is illegally getting sold from anything between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore,” said B N Chatterjee, secretary of Salt Lake Citizens’ Welfare Society.
    The state government
has leased out plots in Salt Lake since the 1970s to enable middle-class
people build houses in the township. Under the rules, all plots were handed over to leaseholders
for 999 years after which the plots would be taken back by the government. However, the government found over the years that many of the original leaseholders transferred
their plots. Most such transfers took place in the 90s. A number of plots and houses were illegally sold or rented out by leaseholders.
    There are about 12,000 plots in the township, out of which almost 35% have already been transferred or sold illegally. Besides, the government was losing lakhs from stamp duty and registration fee as these transactions gave the government and the local civic body a slip. The government authorities had earlier served notices on such individuals who had illegally transferred or sold plots. But many alleged offenders moved court.
LAND-ING IN TROUBLE
12,000^| Total number of plots 4500^| Number of plots illegally transferred or sold
    2,750 to 5,000 per cottah^| Original price of plots 50 lakh to 1 crore per | Price on which plots are illegally sold