Central government is planning to sell surplus government land

It is quite disturbing to know that the Central government is planning to sell surplus government land to generate cash to ease financial pressures based on the suggestion by the Vijay Kelekar Committee on Fiscal Consolidation. Vijay Kelekar, by all means, is an agent of crony capitalists, who are in great hurry to loot the natural resources of the country with the support of dishonest politicians and corrupt bureaucrats. Already the scarce natural resources of the country have been looted by crony capitalists with the active support of corrupt politicians and connivance of bureaucrats. The country is reported to have lost lakhs of corers of rupees in the allotment of mining rights ( especially iron ores, copper deposits and bauxite and so on), assignment of coal blocks, allotment of oil/gas blocks, permission for granite quarrying, issuing sand mining rights allocation of spectrum, ect. The complaint is that Dr. Manmohan Singh has been keeping silence over the organised looting. But many also believe that he is not a silent spectator, but an active participant in the scams, particularly in the coal-gate scam, which has caused an estimated loss of about Rs. 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer and huge amount as bribe to politicians and bureaucrats. Appropriate assignment of the natural resources could have fetched hundreds of thousands crores of rupees to the central and state exchequer, which could have been used to promote investment for economic development of the country and to provide welfare measures to the down-trodden people. In addition to looting huge amount, illegal and unscientific mining of scarce minerals, it has caused colossal damage to environment and ecology of the nation. It has already begun to have an adverse impact and unless there is a check, the country will enter a calamitous zone of environment degradation. Now the rich and powerful wants to grab as much of the nation’s wealth that they can lay their hands on. They have been lobbying and putting pressure on the government for quite some time to put the land under the control of the government as well as public sector enterprises for the use of private sector either by direct sale or on long lease particularly in the metropolitan cities. The politicians and bureaucrats seem to be too happy to allow them to grab lands. Today, in India, the major hurdle for rapid infrastructural development and industrial progress as well as implementation of public housing schemes is the non-availability of suitable land. Land is a scarce resource and once it is alienated and handed to private individuals/organisations over public interest, the government will have to chuck out huge amount for the acquisition of land for public purposes. One estimate reveals that more than 5 lakh acres of land will be needed for industrial, infrastructural and housing requirements in urban areas. The land can be used for the above public purposes rather than handing over to land tycoons.

Land is a scarce resource and once it is alienated and handed to private individuals/organisations over public interest, the government will have to chuck out huge amount for the acquisition of land for public purposes. Estimates reveal that more than 5 lakh acres of land will be needed for industrial, infrastructural and housing requirements in urban areas. According to conservative estimates, at present, nearly 50,000 acres of surplus land is with various government departments and public sector undertakings such railways, shipping, defense, posts, airport authority, etc., besides 3.0 lakh acres possessed by port trusts. These lands could be utilised for industrial purpose, infrastructural facilities, and social housing, besides for constructing offices for central and state governments as well as local bodies.

Industrial Purpose:  Availability of cheap and suitable land is the foremost factor in the establishment of industries. In the past, land was not a limiting factor and the government was also able to allot adequate land for industrial purposes. While cheap land is still available, suitable land at strategic locations has become not only scarce but also exorbitantly costly, besides there is public resistance to the establishment of factories in certain localities. Therefore finding adequate land at affordable cost has become a serious issue. The availability of suitable land for industries will become a much more serious problem due to rapid population growth and urbanisation. It is estimated that thousands of hectares of developed land will be required for industrial purposes in India in the next two decades. Therefore, the government can make use of the surplus land   available with the government departments, public sector undertakings and port trusts for building industrial estates, industrial parks and special economic zones.

Infrastructural Development: Major hurdle for adequate infrastructural development is lack of suitable land. When major development works are undertaken acquisition of land becomes the greatest problem. The surplus land   available with the government departments, public sector undertakings and port trusts  can be exchanged to the  land  owners for the land acquired from them for development projects. Moreover, cross the country, there have been reports of grain going to waste for want of proper storage facilities while hundreds of thousands continue to starve.  Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of grain continue to lie in the open and rot due to lack of storage facilities. Referring to CPI(M) member Ms Brinda Karat showing samples of rotten wheat and rice in the House, the  then Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said in the Rajya Sabha, “I do admit.” He also agreed that the country needs to create a big storage capacity as the food grains production has grown fast in the wake of remunerative prices given to the farmers. Therefore, of the surplus land   available with the government departments, public sector undertakings and port trusts may be allotted to Food Corporation of India for building godowns to store food grains. Such lands can also be used for cold storage facilities for preserving vegetables and fruits.

Public Housing: At least 80 million people are homeless in India despite the country growing at a high rate. Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing, because they cannot afford, or are otherwise unable to maintain, a regular, safe, and adequate shelter. The number of people living in slums is around 93 million in 2011. Some of the problems leading to homelessness include: lack of affordable housing, unemployment and poverty, and high cost of land and building materials. Therefore, the surplus land   available with the government departments, public sector undertakings and port trusts can be used for housing purposes for the government servants as well as the public, which will lead to building of adequate number of affordable houses. Moreover, recently, the government announced its plan for making Indian cities slum-free within a period of five years (during 2009-2014). It is a wonderful idea to have Indian cities without slums. Of course, slums constitute the abodes of misery and destitution in the cities. Improving the living conditions and living environment of about 93 million slum dwellers over a short period of five years is really a gigantic task unparalleled in history. Apart from the difficulty in raising the enormous funds required to meet the expenditure for executing the plan, there is serious difficulty in finding adequate land for implementing such a massive scheme. The surplus land   available with the government departments, public sector undertakings and port trusts can be allotted for resettlement of slum dwellers, instead of resettling them in ghettos in the outskirts of the cities.

Construction of Government Offices:  Many central, state local government offices as well as post offices are functioning in rented buildings all over the country paying huge amount as rent. Moreover, most such buildings are old and dilapidated due to lack of proper maintenance by the landlords. If the surplus land   available with the government departments, public sector undertakings and port trusts is allotted for the purpose of building office complexes, the governments can save huge amount paid as rent, besides crating better working environment.

No Moral and Legal Rights: Moreover,  the UPA government has no moral rights the policy  to initiative such a vital policy decision because it  government is now reduced to a minority status. Trinamool Congress has already announced the withdrawal of support to UPA government. The second biggest allay, DMK, has also said categorically that it would not back the government on any resolution brought against the government on FDI in multi-brand retail trade. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Dr. J.Jayalalithaa, has vehemently opposed the decision to allow 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail. Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has expressed support to Mamata Banerjee's resolution. Likewise, almost all opposition parties such as BJP, CPM, CPI, Janatha Dal (United), Telugudesam Party, Bhahujan Samajwadi Party, and a host of other minor parties such as DMDK and MDMK have expressed their strong resentment. Therefore, there is no chance for the UPA government to survive any no confidence motion brought by Trinamool Congress or any other party. Dr. Manmohan Singh and his associates claim that India has achieved unprecedented economic growth since 1991. Then, what is the rationale behind alienating the government land to real estate tycoons and crony capitalists? Many people believe that extraneous considerations other than raising resources seem to play a dominant role. It is also believed that a gigantic ‘land-scam’ is in the offing.

Under the circumstances stated above, the idea to hand over the surplus land   available with the government departments, public sector undertakings and port trusts is brazen and ill-conceived. Land is a scarce resource and once it is alienated and handed to private individuals/organisations over public interest, the government will have to chuck out huge amount for the acquisition of land for public purposes. Moreover, no other country in the world has resorted to sale of land to private individuals/corporates to tide over financial crisis.

The Times of India, Oct. 3, 2012@ Oct.5, 2012