Indore : Indore Development Authority (IDA) is set to demand more than Rs 500 crore from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in order to pull its balance sheet out of red. IDA Chairman Shankar Lalwani said the demand was justified in view of the fact that the authority had allotted land worth Rs 650 crore to TCS and Infosys free of cost at the behest of the State government.
Lalwani said the authority has gone from being cash-rich to cash-strapped in recent years and needs infusion of funds to execute mega projects under its belt, including the ones related to Simhastha, which is barely a year away now.
Lalwani said that the authority had planned to discuss a dozen matters with Chauhan during a meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday, which was cancelled due to some reasons. He said that these issues will be taken up during the next meeting being scheduled by Chauhan’s office.
The IDA chairman said that to begin with, the authority has a credit balance of Rs 47 crore with the state government. Secondly the authority had allotted lands to TCS and Infosys worth Rs 650 crore free on the assurance that the state government will compensate for the same.
Furthermore, the state government had sanctioned Rs 91 crore for projects related to Simhastha and released only Rs 19 crore so far. Construction of roads such as MR 4, MR 5, and MR 11 will cost Rs 56 crore, Rs 60 crore and Rs 70 crore respectively while the construction of ISBT is pegged at Rs 35 crore.
Lalwani said that there are three important matters to be discussed with Chauhan and one of them is IDA had allotted 8 acre land valued at Rs 30 crore to 40 crore in proposed Medical Hub for construction of power sub-station as per the directives of the government. However, the MPEB is now demanding Rs 93 crore from the authority for the construction of the sub-station, which is unfair.
Similarly, the recent amendment to the Stamp Duty Act has hit the sale of properties of the authority hard and revenue generation has fallen way below the targets. Furthermore, the state government’s decision to impose penalty of Rs 1000 per day on the property owners who had purchased it from the authority and have failed to began construction within six years of purchase, has also hit hard on the sale of properties of the authority.
In view of these facts, the authority will request the state government to amend the Stamp Duty Act as well as rescind the Rs 1000 per day penalty clause to improve upon sale of properties.
