Raising revenue from land sale tough task for civic body

Vadodara: In all civic budget, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) allocates a sum it plans to raise through sale of land in its possession in the city. But when one has a look at the actual amount generated by doing so, the figure is negligible.
In the budget for the year 2018-19 the VMC has stated that it plans to raise Rs 300 crore from the sale of land. This is much higher as compared to Rs 160 crore that the VMC had set for the year 2017-18. Even before this, the civic body had earmarked large amounts for sale of land, but it never met the targets.

If data furnished by the VMC opposition during the budget is anything to go by, since 2010 there were only two financial years when the VMC could achieve a significant portion of the target it had set for itself regarding sale of land. Not even 10% of the amount proposed to be raised on this front was actually realised in remaining years.

While calling the VMC budget unrealistic, VMC opposition leader Chandrakant Shrivastava had raised the issue in the budget meeting. “The VMC has not been able to sell any land since so many years and once again it has set itself a target of Rs 300crore. This is taking the people for a ride,” he had said.

On being asked about the situation, municipal commissioner Dr Vinod Rao said that the civic body was able to meet its financial requirements without selling land. “Land is an appreciating asset. If we can manage without selling it, the value only increases,” he said.

Another issue that has discouraged the civic body from selling land is the fact that it has got no new plots over the years. The civic body gets plots when its town planning schemes are finalised, but its town planning schemes have not got through since several years now.