After transfers of officials and appointment of the Anti-Corruption Branch chief, tussle over land is likely to be the next flashpoint between the Lieutenant-Governor and the Delhi government.
The State government has been asking for land from the Delhi Development Authority to start various projects, but the land-owning agency has told the government that it will have to buy the land and that it cannot be transferred like earlier.
The DDA, headed by L-G Najeeb Jung, has offered land at Rs.4 crore to Rs.10 crore per acre to the AAP-led government.
“While we are asked to buy land, which costs more than the market rates in some areas, the BJP-led corporations are given land for landfill sites for free,” said an Aam Aadmi Party leader.
The government, which plans to introduce 10,000 new buses has no place to park them presently.
“We are told by the DDA that there is no land and that we have to make do with the existing infrastructure or go vertical,” added the leader.
On its part, DDA officials insist there is no land available in the city.
“How will we be able to do other work if we spend Rs.8 crore to Rs.10 crore on purchasing land? We want to construct new colleges, schools, hospitals and bus depots in the Capital, but we don’t have land,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
In the run up to the Delhi Assembly elections, the AAP had promised to construct 20 colleges and 500 schools in different parts of the city. The party had also promised 900 new primary health centres and 30,000 more beds in Delhi hospitals, of which 4,000 will be in the maternity wards.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had met Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu recently to discuss the land problem.
Mr. Naidu had given assurance to the AAP government that he will hold discussions with Mr. Jung on the matter.
“Mr. Naidu had said that in-principle, he was in favour of making land available at nominal rates for building schools and hospitals,” a source in Ministry of Urban Development said.
