Alleging discrepancies in the data collected for Haryana government’s flagship scheme of issuing property identity cards, senior Congress leaders Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala and Kiran Chaudhry said over a crore people living in 88 cities in the state were adversely affected by it.
Addressing a joint press conference here on Friday, the senior Congress leaders accused the Haryana government of looting public money, stating that this may prove to be the last nail in the coffin for the current dispensation.
“Residents 11 municipal corporations, 23 municipal councils and 54 municipal committees are being exploited by middlemen in the name of rectification of property IDs,” they said, adding that people are being forced to pay bribe for the rectification.
Detailing on the alleged fraud, the Congress leaders said that M/S Yashi Consulting Services Pvt Ltd had been allotted the work of carrying out the survey for property IDs.
They said that out of the 42.7 lakh properties surveyed across the state, errors were detected in 85% of these.
The leaders said that the urban local bodies minister, Kamal Gupta, had admitted on December 17, 2022, that 15.5 lakh errors had been detected in the survey of urban properties, but on July 7, 2023, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar claimed that only 8 lakh errors have been detected.
{{/usCountry}}The leaders said that the urban local bodies minister, Kamal Gupta, had admitted on December 17, 2022, that 15.5 lakh errors had been detected in the survey of urban properties, but on July 7, 2023, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar claimed that only 8 lakh errors have been detected.
{{/usCountry}}The leaders of the grand old party also claimed that the government had also given undue favours to the company in question by giving it 10 extensions, even though the work was to be complete by December 12, 2019.
As per the provisions of the agreement, the company was to be penalised upto eight times, and in case the errors exceeded 20%, the agreement was to be revoked. “But despite grave lapses and 85% errors in the survey, neither was the company penalised, nor blacklisted, nor were its tenders cancelled by the Khattar government,” they alleged.
Nature of discrepancies
The Congress leaders alleged that approved colonies have been shown as unapproved and vice-versa in records, with even the ownership being reflected in the name of strangers or even tenants.
While a common property ID has been created for a number of properties, causing legal complications with the area, size of plot and house being wrongly reflected, owners of old houses, which are usually not registered, are facing exploitation.
According to the Congress leaders, a single plot has been given multiple IDs or individual rooms in the same house have been assigned different IDs, forcing the hassled owners to seek rectification.
They said that the property IDs have even been assigned phone numbers of non-owners, as a result of which, the owners do not receive updates on their numbers. “The owners are thus forced to pay bribes to ensure that the errors are rectified,” said the Congress leaders.
Over 5 lakh objections received: Govt
Meanwhile, the Haryana government claimed that 47,47,333 property IDs have been created for urban areas and uploaded on the website of the urban local bodies department. “People were given an opportunity to check their property IDs and point out objections if any. So far, 5,46,461 objections have been filed, out of which 2,24,300 objections have been rectified,” said an official spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that 54,960 objections were found to be correct and sent to the municipal body concerned for rectification. Only a few municipal corporations such as Gurugram, Sonepat, Rohtak, and Hisar, have digitised the property data and in November-December 2022, survey details of all municipalities were uploaded on the portal after verification of all municipalities and objections were invited. The incorrect property IDs are being corrected, he added.