All government buildings will be leased online to save money, time

PUNE: Come November, the Public Works Department (PWD) will be processing the lease agreements for government buildings online. This is to ensure cash flow to the government and proper implementation of the agreements.

The online service was mooted to save time and to ensure that the annual rent is collected on time. With many government buildings given out on a lease, there was always a risk of lease term violations. To counter that, the government has decided to process the lease agreements online.

In Pune district alone, of the 300-odd government buildings, nearly 100 are leased out to various government departments. Meanwhile, in the state, of the 5,000 government buildings, nearly 2,000 are rented out to other departments, said senior officials at the PWD.

"Often, proper records of the offices are not maintained. Moreover, there are some offices that are not renewing the lease and license agreements. This has been causing revenue loss to the state exchequer. The online service will mention the date and the amount to be paid, and will also send a reminder on the date of renewal, thus ensuring that the revenue is collected by the department," a PWD official said.

Apart from saving time, the online processing of the lease agreements will also save money. PWD officials said this will also be beneficial for people from different parts of the state who currently have to visit Mumbai for renewal of lease agreements.

The government resolution (GR) issued in this respect said that every year, the PWD has to carry out several rent agreements whenever government-owned lands or buildings are rented out for the public interest. From November 1, the agreements will be processed through an e-rent service provided on the website www.mahapwd.com.

The GR added that in every district, the executive engineer of the PWD has been given the responsibility to take a final call on the lease agreement procedures. Division-wise data will be created at the beginning of every financial year to enable easy calculation of rent. There will be a detailed list for calculating the rent for buildings with various amenities.

Interestingly, PWD minister Chandrakant Patil had recently announced that better government buildings will be constructed and the old dilapidated structures will be renovated. While the state government, battling cash crunch, is trying to reduce expenses on all fronts, it is continuing to pay for the lavish comforts of the VIPs. In fact, Nagpur — which is PWD's Division No. 1 — has floated a tender mentioning that the department intends to spend about Rs13 crore on maintenance of VIP buildings in the city. Such amounts are spent every year on these building, though the premises are not used for even a month in the entire year.