sharmafire

Solan, January 13
The manner in which the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) has acquired land near Dharmapur at an exorbitant cost of Rs 11 lakh per bigha has put a question mark on the functioning of this public sector enterprise, which is reeling under losses.
Interestingly, HIMUDA has failed to undertake developmental works on 700 plots at Mandhala where possession is being granted to people since October 2011 without proper civil works and power arrangements. Those who have bought the plots are now running from pillar to post to get these works executed. The civil works, which are supposed to be executed by HIMUDA, have been worked out at Rs 27 crore while laying of the power infrastructure would require Rs 46 crore. Only half of this amount has been deposited with the HP State Electricity Board while the buyers will have to bear the remaining cost per kVA basis.
HIMUDA is instead unduly indulging in acquiring land by spending exorbitantly on buying more land and 45.1 bighas have been acquired by HIMUDA near Dharampur.
The land is not only located about 5 km below the national highway in a valley, but the manner in which the land deal was registered yesterday has itself put a question mark on the whole procedure.
As against the norms, the registration of this land was executed at the camp office of the naib tehsildar, Parwanoo, though as per the norms, its registration was supposed to have been executed at the Kasauli office of the sub-registrar.
With a father-son duo testifying as witnesses and no land evaluation committee having been constituted to work out the cost of this land as against the usual norms, a question mark has been put on the whole procedure. The average cost appears to have been worked out on the basis of an isolated land deal executed in April 2011 though the land evaluation committee would have managed to evaluate its cost properly, which appears to have been much lesser.
HIMUDA Chairman Ganesh Dutt, however, justified the land acquisition stating that the demand survey carried out by HIMUDA had assessed an overwhelming demand for flats at Dharampur. He said the engineering wing had conducted the survey for studying the feasibility of this land. He added that civil works were under way at Mandhala and those who had taken the possession were being provided power and other facilities while work on providing power infrastructure was in progress.

sublimation

Ambika Sharma

Perched at a height of 2,250 meters above sea level, the pristine hill station of Chail is emerging as a hot spot of realtors with several resorts and guest houses dotting its periphery.
Since a majority of hill stations in Himachal Pradesh have been marred by crass commercialisation, the people who prefer a quiet stay away from the hustle and bustle of big cities are now showing their preference for Chail. The majestic deodars and breathtaking beauty of Chail are enough to mesmerise a visitor.
Set up after the shahi farman of Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh as his summer capital, the town is thronged by tourists from Punjab and Delhi and many rich and famous have built palatial bungalows and houses around it. Though a number of politicians from Punjab and Delhi have also set up snug cottages in the area, no commercial complex has come up in Chail as yet.
As far as realty growth is concerned, the town has its limitations. Being part of a reserved sanctuary all constructions have taken place in its vicinity in various villages like Mahog, Dunu, Sakhori, Barech, Katla, etc., as no sale or purchase of land is permissible within the sanctuary area.
This has, in fact, proved to be a blessing in disguise as the town's pristine character has remained intact in spite of the tourist interest. So the realtors are cashing in on the pristine beauty and nature's unblemished ambience here.
Gauging the response of the tourists visiting Chail, the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) is now trying to acquire land for setting up a housing colony at Chail, and various sites are being explored for this.
A private coloniser is coming up with a housing project near Janedghat, around 8 km from Chail on the Chail-Kufri road.
With the nearest village of Mahog, which is about 5 km from Chail, being a hub of floriculture, realtors are on the lookout for land in villages further ahead. As the locals make a hefty profit by selling quality flowers they have little inclination to sell land for commercial ventures.
The town barely had a Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation-owned Palace Hotel until a few years ago but the emergence of a five-star hotel on the Gaura Road has tempted other realtors to invest in the area. This has led to the coming up of several guest houses and hotels all along the Chail-Kandaghat Road.
With the process of de-notifying the town's prime area from the sanctuary area underway, the locals are optimistic that this would help ease the sale and purchase of land though they are against crass commercialisation.
“Land price here is around Rs 35-40 lakh per bigha which is 2 to 3 times less than land prices in Manali and Shimla. This is a major attraction for realtors. Since tourist interest has shifted from the crowded hill stations to quieter places, Chail is the emerging real estate destination in the district”, opined Kamal Anand, who is constructing a hotel here.
Chail is ideally located as it is closer to Chandigarh and Shimla in comparison to other hill stations in Himachal. Thus investors are keen on exploring the potential of this town. But local residents feel that lack of facilities and activities to lure tourists to prolong their stay here is a major roadblock in the growth of the realty sector here.
Devinder Verma, who has been running a hotel here for the past several years, says, “The tourism department should boost tourism by organising summer and winter festivals on the lines of those being organised in other hills stations and build some camping sites in the forest area, but no commercial activity should be allowed in the forest area”.

He adds that since very little land is available for constructing hotels and flats, efforts should be made to develop Chail as a better tourist destination where the nature walks and camping sites can be offered.

Realtors are now exploring the possibility of constructing cottages around the town to bring in more and more tourists which will bring in commercial and retail complexes and enrich the realty scene of this quaint town.

sublimation

Objections, suggestions received from public
Pratibha Chauhan/tns

Shimla, January 23
With the last date for filing of objections and suggestions on the Draft Shimla Development Plan expiring today, the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department will initiate the process of personal hearing before finalising the document for seeking Cabinet approval.
Sources in the department said about 15 objections and suggestions had been received from individuals and associations, which would now be taken up for personal hearing once the compilation process was completed. “The moment the process of personal hearing before the Director, TCP, is completed, the Draft Shimla Development Plan will be finalised and sent to the government for Cabinet approval,” said an official.
It is almost five years after the Shimla Development Plan was finalised by the Town and Country Planning Department that it has been notified for public objections and suggestions, the last date for which expired today. It is expected that the important document will get the Cabinet nod the moment it is finalised by the department.
For the past over three decades, the state capital was being developed on the basis of an interim development plan as the Shimla Development Plan had been awaiting approval. Though the document had been prepared after several rounds of deliberations with planners, architects, environmentalists and various voluntary organisations almost three years ago, it had been awaiting the government nod.
The thrust of the plan is to decongest the town, especially the core area by shifting out various facilities like the grain market, coal and wood depots and the vegetable market. It also talks of developing satellite townships of Ghanahatti, Vaknaghat and Junga so that Shimla does not get more congested. Another thing that the planners intend to do is to hold a survey of constructions on slopes, which are susceptible to hazards and the measures needed to avert mishaps. The Plan also talks of enforcing strict restrictions on the construction activity within the city and preserving and extending the green areas within the town, which have been depleting on account of haphazard growth.
Source:The Tribune

Located

Well, I just can't get one thing. These officials at HIMUDA can't even send me an acknowledgement slip in 1 year for 2 of my applications out of 4, how will they be able to deliver these plots in stipulated time that they will say so.?

naresh_kumar

Good question, indeed...

sublimation

Ambika Sharma

Solan, January 24
The Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) has incurred an undue expenditure of about Rs 16.50 crore as stamp duty in purchasing 323.12 bighas of land in Solan and Sirmaur ever since it took a decision not to acquire land but purchase it directly from sellers for various commercial ventures.
The information, which has come forth in an RTI reply, reveals that land was bought in nine places in Solan and Sirmaur districts where stamp duty at the rate of 5 per cent of the land value was paid. Apart from this, Rs 25,000 was paid as additional money for registering each sale deed.
The RTI reply has also revealed that land in the nine sites - Jurja, Moginand I, II and III, Trilokpur I and II, Sheel, Raho and Beartti - was purchased on the basis of requests made by sellers. Though HIMUDA claims that the land selection committee had recommended the purchase of land, no record of the visit of the CEO-cum-secretary to the site for negotiation or finalisation was made available to the applicant, thus putting a question mark on the purchase of 323.12 bighas. No inspection note of the officer has been made available to the applicant.
Though HIMUDA agrees that this undue expenditure of Rs 16.50 crore would have been saved had the land been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, as was the practice earlier, the authority takes the plea that the land cost has been higher in some cases due to compensation paid to the land owner and due to enhancement by courts. Intriguingly, the over-enthusiasm of HIMUDA in purchasing 62.11 bighas at Jurja at a cost of Rs 5.31 crore led to a purchase where the land was found to be a few bighas less. Though the senior architect has informed the authority about this variation and the matter is being taken up with revenue officials, this purchase has put a question mark over the land purchase procedure where the exact land size had not been ascertained while shelling out Rs 5.31 crore for the deal. Interestingly, the authority on the one hand is availing loans worth crores to fulfil its requirements, on the other it failed to even procure the total land for which it had paid money.
Source:The Tribune

anuragrana

hi i m anurag rana i m lookin some property buy in district kangra either flat , plot, appartment can u plz reply me regardin this.

Rickyy

Shimla, January 29
Controversies over land acquisition and lack of financial resources have put brakes on the ambitious plans of the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) to provide plots, houses and flats to 72,848 applicants.
With hardly any land available at places for which the maximum applications have been received and controversies over the cost and location of whatever land the public sector undertaking has acquired, most of the applicants will be disappointed. It has so far failed to come up with any concrete plans for the development of plots and flats for any of the 59 townships for which applications were invited. HIMUDA had collected Rs 36.5 crore from the applicants, each of whom paid Rs 5,000 each, as part of the demand survey under two schemes and promised to pay an interest of 5 per cent after one year.
The first scheme under which 45,357 applications were received has already completed the stipulated period of one year and the interest will be payable to the applicants on the second scheme from April 1 onwards. With no plans in the offing, the applicants are in no position to decide whether to withdraw the amount or allow HIMUDA to retain the money at 5 per cent when banks are offering 9.5 per cent interest. Even at 5 per cent, it will have to pay Rs 1.80 crore as interest annually. Its failure to come out with concrete schemes within the stipulated period will make a case for payment of interest at higher rates, more so because it has invested part of the money in fixed deposits.
Further, the maximum number of 62,484 applications were received for plots, followed by 7,020 for flats and 3,344 for independent houses. Accordingly, 25,000 to 30,000 bighas of land will be required and HIMUDA has only been able to acquire less than 500 bighas, that too riddled with controversies. Some chunks of land, particularly in Sirmaur district, are not considered suitable for housing. In Dharampur, where land was selected after carrying out a proper feasibility survey as per which the profit from the project worked out to Rs 15 crore, HIMUDA is being accused of acquiring land at higher rates.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HIMUDA BB Kalra said the prescribed procedure was followed and a three-member negotiation committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner and having the CEO and tehsildar of HIMUDA as members approved the rate. The negotiation route instead of acquisition helped in avoiding litigation as landowners invariably challenged the land compensation award. He would propose inclusion of the tehsildar (revenue) concerned, who was fully conversant with the kind of value of land, in the committee to further improve the process.

Rickyy

HIMUDA to return booking amount to applicants

Shimla, March 16
Having failed to acquire sufficient land to fulfil the demand of 70,000 plots and flats at various places in the state, the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) has decided to return the booking amount deposited by people. While those still keen to have a dream house in the hill state could wait.
The decision to return the Rs 5,000 each that had been deposited by people will, however, be formally taken at the Board of Directors Meeting (BoD), to be held later this month. However, it has been decided that no land will be acquired in about 10 small stations like Ani and Karsog where the demand was negligible. As such the dream of many people of having a house in the hills will have to wait.
“Since we are facing a problem in getting ample land to fulfil the housing demand of people, we have decided to return the money and the decision will be taken formally at the BoD meeting,” confirmed Ganesh Dutt, Vice-Chairman, HIMUDA.
He said in case there were people who do not mind waiting till land could be made available, their applications would be kept on hold.
Dutt said at 10 smaller towns, including Ani, Karsog, Shillai, Renuka and Dadahu, a decision had been taken to return the money of 140 house seekers.
“Since the demand at these places is far below our expectations, we have decided not to build any flats here, so the money would be returned,” he said.
It was on the basis of a demand survey that HIMUDA had received 70,000 applications from house seekers. A sum of Rs 35 crore had been collected from people in this regard. The money had been collected in two phases between December 2010 and March 2011 with the condition that HIMUDA would pay them interest at the rate of five per cent after one year.
Sources said since HIMUDA had not been able to acquire sufficient land, especially at places like Shimla, Kasauli and Kullu-Manali where the demand was the highest, it had decided to return the money as the interest that the authority would have to pay would be huge.
Officials pointed out that at least 20,000 bighas would be required to meet the demand of 70,000 dwellings, with majority out of this wanting a plot and not flat. HIMUDA was already facing a financial crisis on account of the enhanced compensation, which it has had to pay following compulsory acquisition. In fact, it has now been decided that instead of going in for compulsory acquisition, HIMUDA would go for negotiation so that it does not have to pay money later on as land owners invariably move court.

Red Alert

I got letter from HIMUDA which says...

"The process of acquiring land is underway and likely to be completed very shortly, accordingly you will be intimated"