Bhopal: Having generated revenue to the tune of Rs 1,134 crore from the sale of state land over the last four years, the Madhya Pradesh government has now changed tack. All government land will now be diverted to be redeveloped for commercial or residential use.
The decision to set up a public assets management (PAM) department was taken by the BJP government, then led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in 2020, to identify and monetise unutilised parcels of land and generate additional revenue. But the BJP government led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is of the opinion that redevelopment is a better way forward, two senior officials privy to the deliberations told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity.
This change in strategy comes in the backdrop of protests in parts of the state, by factory workers and farmers demanding operationalisation of such assets.
According to a PAM official, the department came into being after the Supreme Court in February 2019 ordered the state to clear Rs 90 crore in dues owed to employees of the now-defunct Binod Mills. The idea was to set up an agency to identify, and monetise assets to clear pending dues and generate additional revenue, the official said.
Binod Mills was located on 18 acres of land in the heart of Ujjain, about 200 metres from the office of the municipal corporation. This land was divided into nine parcels, with an combined market price of Rs 546 crore.
Four of the nine parcels have been sold to date, generating Rs 69.43 crore in revenue.
Since 2020, the Madhya Pradesh government has identified 655 such assets. Of these, it has sold off more than 100 parcels totalling 110 acres. As many as 56 of these land parcels were with the revenue department, 16 with the cooperative department, and 15 with the transport department. A 5,000-square metre plot in the state capital Bhopal, sold for Rs 73 crore, was the single largest sale overseen by the PAM department.
Apart from state government-owned land, a process was also initiated to take back land belonging to New Bhopal Textile Mills, Hira Mills (Ujjain), Tapti Mills (Burhanpur) along with Malwa and Kalyan mills in Indore. The state government had in 2007 allowed the National Textile Corporation (NTC) to take over these mills lands under The Sick Textile Undertakings (Nationalization) Act 1974, but after the creation of PAM, MP government through district collectors began the process of taking back the land from NTC in 2022.
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Case of Kailaras Sugar Factory
The government’s move to facilitate the sale of state-owned land had led to protests in parts of the state. For instance, farmers in Morena demanded that the government revive the Kailaras Sugar Factory. Morena’s district collector had last September told the Madhya Pradesh High Court that pending dues of employees of the Kailaras Sugar Factory, which has been defunct since 2011, would be cleared within three months.
Consequently, land on which the factory stood was identified for sale under the asset management plan, but the decision led to widespread protests.
On 21 January, thousands of farmers along with their tractors and trolleys flocked to the Kailaras Sugar Factory, opposing its sale and threatening to launch a ‘jail bharo andolan’.
Ashok Tiwari, a farmer leader from Morena, whose grandfather was a shareholder of Kailaras Sugar Factory, said the unit began operations in 1970 with 26,000 shareholders. Small farmers sold off their carts to invest in it, the factory generated employment and established sugarcane as a cash crop in the Chambal region, he told ThePrint.
“The employment it generated also played a part in large-scale surrender of dacoits, who turned away from ravines and began living a civilised life. And today, when the government is holding industrial summits, urging industries to come and set up, how can it sell off its own assets, instead of making them operational,” lamented Tiwari.
After it failed to acquire desired rates for the land, and in the face of protests, the government is now considering restarting this mill on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, it is learnt. But Tiwari said those involved do not merely want that the mill be restarted but that the government or cooperatives should run it. “The government should allow its AGM (Annual General Meeting) meeting to be held.”
According to a senior Madhya Pradesh government official, these were among the factors that prompted the change in strategy.
“It was also felt that selling off assets is much easier compared to government acquiring land for any future projects that it might have in mind. If we sell off all such prime land in the middle of cities, what will the government do if they have to open a new office or set up another project,” said a senior state government official who did not wish to be named.
The state has now begun identifying government land which it can hand over for redevelopment to agencies such as the Indore Development Authority and the Bhopal Development Authority, among others. Explaining the plan, joint director (PAM) Sanjay Jain told ThePrint, “We are looking at public assets to free them of encroachments, clear their dues and hand them over to housing boards, urban departments, municipalities, developmental agencies and other departments instead of selling the land. “We are now only collecting details of land which are empty and encroached, and nothing beyond it.”
The five unsold parcels of Binod Mills land will also be considered for sale under the proposal. Another example is that of Indore’s Hukumchand Mill with an area of 17.82 hectares. This unit was liquidated in 1992.
In the case of Hukumchand Mill, a debt recovery tribunal was constituted after banks and the labour union approached the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, but there was no progress thereafter. The unit was handed over to the PAM department, which has now roped in Indore Municipal Corporation and the MP Housing Board, and a scheme is being formulated to develop IT parks, green spaces and residential buildings to generate revenue and clear dues to the tune of Rs 435.89 crore.
As part of the larger plan, development authorities can now send their proposal to PAM, which will review them, prepare its own report on the proposal and present it before the chief secretary for approval, after which it will be moved to the Cabinet for a final nod.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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Why are they selling land? It is the only safe investment on earth. Why would anyone think of selling state owned land? This is plain stupid.