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Low lease land rents fail to fill GHMC coffers
The negligence of previous government in undivided Andhra Pradesh has led to huge loss for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation which had given away land on lease. The previous government neither revised the lease agreements nor did they maintain proper records.
Hyderabad: The negligence of previous government in undivided Andhra Pradesh has led to huge loss for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation which had given away land on lease. The previous government neither revised the lease agreements nor did they maintain proper records.
The GHMC estate wing has now inherited 24 racks of documents and is struggling to find out the details of the property given on lease and the amounts that were collected all these years. It is learnt that there are about 2,000 properties but the corporation has been collecting a mere Rs 3 crore from about a decade when the actual value could be over Rs 30 crore annually. As a result the corporation has been losing out hundreds of crore since many years.
Sources said that the some private persons have exploited the lease agreement and were using the land and properties for commercial purposes. From the records it appears that corporation officials in the past had not even made field visits to safeguard GHMC's properties.
For instance, GHMC had handed over 16,940 yards land for lease Film Nagar Cultural Centre (FNCC) in order construct a recreation club for actors but of late the several unauthorised constructions have come up in the area. It may be recalled that in July last year an authorised building that was under construction on the leased land collapsed claiming two lives.
Sources said that the corporation during 1996 had handed over the land for mere Rs 5,000. The value of this land has increased to over Rs 2 crores but the returns did not increase. Similarly, sources said, the corporation gave more than 18 acres of in 1988 for 99 year lease to construct Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station but did not bother to collect the rent.
Sources claim that according to the lease agreement the corporation has given permission to construct toilets, hotels and dormitories, has set up ATMs and stalls and other facilitate for the passengers and was earning revenue but was not paying the lease amount to the corporation regularly. The sources said the amount due to TSRTC after formation of Telangana state was Rs 85 crore.
When asked about it additional commissioner (estates) G Ramesh said the corporation has already issued notices to TSRTC and Film Nagar club to clear arrears. He said that the corporation would expedite the rental collection from the next financial year after verifying the old records. Ramesh also said that the corporation has also instructed ground level officials to inspect the leased out properties and submit a detail project report.
