Sahara City, Nagpur in trouble
The six-member committee constituted by state government to probe into the land deals done after July 15, 2000 in the district will examine the status of Sahara City, a township coming up on Wardha Road, a senior officer in know of things told TOI . The committee is headed by divisional commissioner and has to submit its report to government by third week of May.
The township is spread over eight revenue surveys (land zones). Survey numbers 9/2, 9/3, 9/4 and 9/5 fall within 500 metre of existing gaothan (village settlement) limits and hence have been cleared by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
However, survey numbers 26/3, 26/4, 31/2 and 31/3 are beyond 500 metre of existing gaothan limits and hence the committee has to submit its recommendations about the four surveys, the officer preferring anonymity, revealed.
As per Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, the Town Planning Department (TPD) can grant no-objection certificates (NOCs) only to those plots or layouts that are situated within 200 to 500 meters of radius of a gaothan.
In many cases, the TPD issued NOCs for plots and layouts that were outside the stipulated gaothan limits.
After MLA Devendra Fadnavis raised the issue in winter session of Maharashtra Assembly, the state government suspended ADTP (Nagpur Rural) Archana Parlewar in December 2007. However, the issue was again raised in the ongoing budget session following which the government ordered an inquiry. Such an inquiry has been ordered for the first time even though sale of land in violation of rules has been going on since years. As a result, over 3,500 unauthorised layouts have been created in the city.
Meanwhile, the four surveys of the township that were cleared by the CM are also in the soup as Urban Land Ceiling authorities have directed the registrar of properties not to register any Sahara City properties until further orders.
The government has taken the step as the township developers have failed to deposit Rs 3.50 crore for using land for commercial purposes. However, the developers have contended that the order is untenable and are planning to appeal to higher authorities.
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