MIDC takes back 223.23 Ha unused land in one year
| Date :04-Jan-2024 |
Staff Reporter
In last one year, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has taken back 223.23 hectare (22,32,265 sq mt) unused land across State. In the year 2015, during the tenure of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the State Cabinet had decided to take back the land acquired by entrepreneurs failing to use it for the purpose within 10 years. Last year, from July 1, 2022 to December 19, 2023, MIDC has taken back 451 unused plots all over Maharashtra. However, according to the sources, there are more plots than 451. Does it mean that MIDC is a bit soft? An official in the office of Uday Samant, Maharashtra Minister of Industry said, “We are not soft, but there are certain rules which we have to follow. After following those, we could take 451 plots, the area of which comes to 223.23 hectare or 22,32,265.63 square meters land.” Earlier, Government had thought of taking the land back from entrepreneurs and give back to the farmers from whom it was acquired. But the whole process was not done in a scrupulous manner. If one takes a look at the statistics, one would realise, Nagpur Regional Office has taken highest number of plots and more land back after Pune Regional Office.
Nagpur Regional Office comprising Wardha, Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara, Gadchiroli and Nagpur has taken back 123 plots of the area 5,93,241.63 square meters. Amravati regional office has taken 31 plots of the area 2,83,288 sq meter back. In Pune, the MIDC has taken back 165 plots having the area of 7,60,961.43 sq meters. If total area that was taken back by MIDC is taken into account then more area of industry land in Vidarbha was taken back by the authority than the land it has taken back in Pune. Mahendra Patel, Regional Officer, MIDC, Nagpur told ‘The Hitavada’, “It is not more or less land or about swift action. MIDC has acted with planning everywhere. We identified the people sitting on the land without doing anything and took action whatever Cabinet had proposed.” The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its recent report that was tabled in State Assembly during winter session of State Legislature at Nagpur, has criticised MIDC, for its procrastinating approach in taking action against the owners having unutilised lands. It has also lambasted MIDC for the delays in implementation of land rates, unnecessary concessions given to the owners etc.
In the past the provision of giving the land back to the farmers was not there. But the rule has not been implemented. In many cases, people purchased the non-agriculture land but instead of starting production they changed their purpose from industrial to residential. Ideally, the purchases should start an industry within 15 years of the purchase. CAG has also observed that MIDC had not devised any methodology or weightage formula for the revision of land rates. Secondly, the MIDC is poor in maintaining record of lands taken back. During Fadnavis Government, MIDC had floated the scheme wherein it had offered several discounts to the owners if they come up with concrete proposals for their lands. CAG observed that the response to the scheme was poor. Surprisingly, MIDC failed to take any action against the owners in terms of acquisition of unutilised part of plot.