325 commercial plots in Karnal find no buyers

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, August 11

A query filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has brought out that the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) has not received any buyer for 325 plots in Sector 12 in the past several years even after making several attempts.

‘High rates to blame’

Several attempts were made to sell the plots, but certain things acted as limiting factors. One, the rates of the HSVP commercial sites are high in comparison to other sites in the city. Two, the time period to make the payment has been reduced from five years to just 120 days. — HSVP Employee

City-based activist Rajesh Sharma, who had filed the RTI query, had sought information about the development of Sector 12, the number of unsold plots and the number of plots auctioned after 2010.

The process to develop Sector 12 was started in 1993. Only one plot was auctioned after 2010. In all, 325 plots are awaiting buyers.

The RTI reply states that of the 325 unauctioned plots, 107 are double-storey shops, 62 booths, 60 showrooms, 45 shop-cum-offices (SCOs), 32 kiosks, 12 dhaba sites and seven hotel sites.

“Several attempts were made to sell the plots, but certain things acted as limiting factors. One, the rates of the HSVP commercial sites are high in comparison to other sites in the city. Two, the time period to make the payment has been reduced from five years to just 120 days. As a result, people didn’t show interest in buying commercial sites in Sector 12,” an HSVP employee said.

He said had the plots been auctioned off, the HSVP would have earned a good amount of money.

Pradhuman Singh, Executive Officer (EO), HSVP, said they would restart the e-auction process after getting a nod from the higher authorities.