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Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 6
Faced with paucity of land and its growing demand by the industry, the Haryana Government has decided to offer panchayat land to private industrialists on a 33-year lease at “reasonable rates”.
Projecting this as a “win-win” idea, sources say the three-fold benefit accruing to the panchayats from this exercise includes much-needed employment and revenue generation while retaining ownership rights.
Though no private industry has come up on panchayat land in Haryana despite a provision for leasing it out under the existing rules, sources in the Panchayat and Development Department said the Industries Department was aggressively pursuing it to meet the growing demand for land. So far, the panchayat land is only used by government sector departments.
The top brass in the state’s Industries Department wants this to take off so that land can be provided at “reasonable rates” as compared to land prices in Haryana’s industrial estates being managed by the HSIIDC.
“There are about 200 units looking for land at ‘reasonable prices’. Since the state does not have a government land pool to cater to the demand unlike states such as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the panchayat lands are the only alternative. The idea is to give this land through open bidding. Efforts are afoot to fix a floor-level price, giving panchayats funds for their development in the villages,” an officer associated with the scheme said.
This scheme has been “marketed” to the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government on grounds that it will also address the growing problem of unemployment. “The ultimate authority to give away land to private industry will lie with the panchayats. However, besides bringing in revenue, industries in villages will open up job opportunities for nearly 7 per cent unemployed youth, especially those of the village where they are established,” a source said.
Sources claim this is expected to narrow down the huge gap between nearly 15 lakh unemployed youth and one lakh recruitments likely in government jobs. The Panchayat Department will seek the consent of panchayats and the Industries Department will put these up on its website after which these will be given away through open bidding.
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