To make a quick buck,state to sell leased land

The conversion to freehold is optional,and not for properties on lease for less than 10 years. Properties leased for between 10 and 29 years will pay the full collector rate,those leased for 29 years to less than 50 years will pay 75 per cent,and those leased from 50 years to 99 years will pay 60 per cent of the collector rate.

The properties have been leased out by around half of Punjab’s 28 improvement trusts. The most on sale are with Pathankot Improvement Trust,said a senior official of the department.

Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said,“We have framed this policy as the lease amount was very little. Also,lots of litigation is going on. This way,the improvement trusts will get good money and the lessee will benefit.”

However,Inder Mohan Singh Bajaj,chairman of Patiala Improvement Trust,said,“We have only given one property of 10,000 square feet on lease to the Punjab excise and taxation department; that too many years ago at a nominal rate… why will they buy that property?”

Parambans Singh Romana,chairman of Faridkot Improvement Trust,said,“We have not given any land or property on lease; we only do outright sales. We had developed about 26 acres of land with 186 residential plots,besides a commercial area,from the sale of which we have earned around Rs 7 crore.”

Sanjiv Khanna,chairman of Amritsar Improvement Trust,said shops had been leased out at rates that were in some cases as low as Rs 25 per square yard. “Much litigation is on… we have served notices,” he said.