In a major development, the new residential plot owners of New Town will not have selling rights for five years.
The plot owners, who will be given the possession on the basis of 99-year leasehold, can transfer their leasehold rights only after five years of lock-in period, following certain conditions.
It should be recalled, the Mamata Banerjee government had decided to distribute residential plots in New Town for the first time since 2011, when she took the regime. State urban development minister Firhad Hakim inaugurated the online application process on Monday at Kolkata Book Fair.
"75 such plots will be given on the basis of 99-year leasehold. There is a lock in period of 5 years. Those plots cannot be sold in between that time. But the leasehold rights can be transferred after that with the provisions," said West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) chairman Debashis Sen.
With this approach, the state government has taken a wise step against illegal land transfers. However, illegal selling of plots in New Town was never reported.
The demand of the lands in this sophisticated township has been skyrocketing for its position and infrastructure. It has become one of the smart cities in India.
According to the sources close to development, the state government does not want to take any chance to give space for illegal land selling here.The government earlier learnt that giving the rights of leasehold transfer in legal way, would give the plot owners a chance to sell their plots in present market price. This right should not be taken away from them. The government will also get its part during the legal transfer of leasehold. The urban development department will also not lose the revenue due to illegal selling of plot.
It is the Mamata Banerjee government which took the decision to give away transfer rights of leasehold in Salt Lake City. There were several cases of illegal selling of land which had surfaced in Salt Lake City during the erstwhile Left Front regime.
The state Urban Development department lost a huge amount of revenue from each of the cases. The idea of setting up a township for middle class and lower middle class people was shattered with those illegal selling of plots by the owners.
But only a fresh idea is needed to come out of this problem, which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had done successfully.
However, it is known that government will distribute 75 such new plots in New Town which will be distributed via lottery.
The interested parties will submit their application via online process. A renowned private bank is operating the whole process of financial transaction.
Meanwhile, the state urban development minister announced that the money will be promptly returned to those applicants' bank account if they do not get their chance to buy the plot in lottery.