SDMC comes up with proposal to boost revenue

If everything goes as per the plan, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will soon have more ways to generate revenue. 

The SDMC has proposed to hire a real estate management company, which will identify unused and vacant plots in areas under the Corporation’s jurisdiction and come up with ways for their utilisation. Officials of the SDMC said that if the plan materialises, it would not only boost the Corporation’s revenue, but would also help in re-claiming the encroached land.

SDMC Leader of the House Ashish Sood has highlighted the need to identify plots that are lying vacant, unused and are unheard off.  “There has always been this need to identify areas under the SDMC, which are not being used probably because the Corporation might not be aware of it. There are many unidentified land, which have been encroached upon or are unheard of,” Sood said.

The real estate management company will be not only be assigned to identify vacant and unused plots but also provide ideas on how to utilise them, thereby boosting the Corporation’s revenue. “The company will tell us what sort of construction can be carried out on a particular land and how will that help us earn revenue. While some land are fit for buildings, some are good for parking purpose,” Sood added. 

With this plan, the SDMC hopes to re-claim plots, which have been encroached upon. The civic body said there were cases of land-grabbing by small-time property dealers, vendors, slum-dwellers, musclemen, etc. Besides, there is no data that can throw a light on the number of plots/ land that have been encroached upon. 

According to a source, it is not easy to free such land as encroachers mostly enjoy the support of local politicians and other influential people. 

“Sometimes, we face difficulty in freeing the land that have been encroached upon. Once the proposal takes shape, we will identify such plots and try our best to re-claim them with a proper strategy,” said a senior official of the SDMC.

The need to identify vacant plots or free them from encroachers has been taken up in the SDMC’s Budget meetings too. Leader of the Opposition, Farhad Suri, had pointed out that going by the trend in the past few years it appeared that by the end of this fiscal, the Corporation would face a shortage of Rs 1,200 crore. Suri said Commissioner Puneet Kumar Goel's estimate of a Rs 600-crore decrease in the targeted revenue had not included many factors.

“More vacant land needs to be identified. The inefficiency of the Corporation is evident as it has been not been able to boost its internal sources of revenue. The actual shortfall will be at least Rs 1,200 crore as the Commissioner has included money from the municipal reform fund in his income estimate even though the Delhi government has not given this in years,” said Suri.