Realty prices thwart government's attempts at property acquisition
Officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) tasked with property acquisition to facilitate various infrastructural projects are having the hardest time convincing the property owners to give up the land for the price offered as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
The Act offers twice the market value of the land as fixed and revised by the government from time to time, in lieu of property acquisition. While the Act was hailed in 2013 as game-changer in favour of the farmers set to forgo their lands for development, it is now considered a raw deal by farmers as well as urban property owners in view of the steeply increased realty values, the officials say.
'Remember Lagacharla? Not one owner is willing to accept the prevailing rates, justifiably so, given the real estate values,' says an official under the condition of anonymity, recalling the farmers' protests at the village in the Vikarabad district, which had successfully thwarted the Pharma City project proposed by the government.
In the city too, for upmarket localities such as Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, the market value of land as per the Registration Department hovers at around ₹64,000 per square yard, but on the ground, the realty prices have skyrocketed to ₹2 -3 lakh per square yard here.
With several infrastructural projects lined up in these divisions as part of the Hyderabad City Innovative and Transformative Infrastructure (H-CITI) project, GHMC officials are clueless about the way ahead for property acquisition.
Awards to the tune of ₹760 crore pertaining to the components of the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) and other road widening projects are already pending, for want of funds. At least ₹100 crore of this, is the price the owners got after resorting to legal means.
'Even property owners who accept the award, are doing so under protest, so that they could have a leeway to approach the court for higher price. Advocates are minting money, demanding 50% of the increased compensation,' the official said.
They are seeking higher price under the Act, with the argument that the last market value revision was done three years ago, compelling the courts to grant 30-50% more than the compensation granted.
A total of 264 properties are in various stages of processing, solely to facilitate the flyovers and underpasses planned around the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park. Together with the rest of the components proposed under H-CITI, the number of properties requisitioned crosses 1100.
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