NAGPUR: With land acquisition cost for Nagpur
Metro increasing from Rs600 crore to Rs1,500 crore,
MahaMetro has urged chief minister
Devendra Fadnavis to provide land of the state government,
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and
Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) at nominal rates.
As per MahaMetro officials, Fadnavis has granted in-principle approval and asked the agency to send a formal proposal. The agency will submit the proposal to the state government next week.
A MahaMetro official said that the land acquisition cost had increased due to Rehabilitation Act and directives from Union minister Nitin Gadkari to take up projects not included in the detailed project report (DPR).
“Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had taken the acquisition cost of private land as the ready reckoner (RR) rate prevalent at that time. Not only has the RR rate increased but under Rehabilitation Act of state government we now have to pay the owners 2.5 times the RR,” said the official.
“Secondly, Gadkari has asked us to develop Cotton Market and Krazy Castle. These projects were not included in the DPR,” he added.
According to the official, DMRC had calculated the cost of state government, NMC and NIT land as per a state government resolution (GR). “This rate was far lower than RR. However, NMC and NIT are demanding market rate for their land. They think of us as cash cows,” he said.
NMC has demanded Rs148 crore for its Cotton Market land while NIT expects MahaMetro to pay compensation to Krazy Castle concessionaire Haldiram Foods. There is no provision for this money in the Nagpur Metro DPR.
The Metro official further said that government should ask NMC and NIT to pay their 5% share in cash. “If they do not do this, then how will we pay our contractors? We can’t give NMC and NIT land to contractors in lieu of hard cash,” he said. The two civic agencies have to pay Rs434 crore each to MahaMetro. NMC has ruled out providing cash outright while NIT is also reluctant. Both agencies are cash-strapped.
CM Devendra Fadnavis (File photo)