DDA to allot land to Delhi govt at token rates

NEW DELHI: The Centre has accepted the Delhi government’s pending demand for land at token prices.

NEW DELHI: The Centre has accepted the Delhi government’s pending demand for land at token prices.

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The union urban development ministry on Monday announced it had drastically reduced the rates at which the DDA allotted land to the Delhi government.

Land for medical institutions, maternity centres, night shelters and orphanages will be allotted at a nominal charge of Rs 1 per annum.

The Delhi government had been demanding land from the Central government for a while. It had written to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), seeking land at token prices.

Apart from control over the police, the Centre and the Delhi government have been sparring over land.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has many a time said the state government had the right to land. He said if the government was constructing structures for public welfare, it should be given land at nominal rates.

Also the land for DTC depots and offices, which was earlier allotted at market rate ranging between Rs 1,82,400 and Rs 6,72,000 per square metre, will be given at a nominal rate (no profit no loss) of Rs 11,745 per square metre.

Facing land crunch for bus depots, the Aam Aadmi Party government had last year sought 500 acres from the DDA for parking 10,000 buses in the national Capital.

The rate for land for staff quarters at schools and hospitals of the local bodies and the Delhi government has been reduced from 10% of residential rates to Rs 1 per annum, said an official.

The rate was between Rs 31,000 and Rs 75,700 per sqm.

The urban development ministry approved the new rates after consulting senior officials of the DDA and the Delhi government, he said.

Similarly, the cost of land for Delhi government offices has been reduced from its market rate to zonal variant rates that range from Rs 23,490 to Rs 52,853 per sqm. The market rate was between Rs 1,82,400 and Rs 6,72,000 per sqm.

Further, the land for roads, graveyards and crematoria, play grounds and parks, water supply and drainage for DDA colonies will continue to be allotted free of cost or at Rs 1/- per annum.