Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's recent disclosure of assets amounting to Rs.88 crore has sparked speculation if the figure provides a true picture of her actual assets.
Though according to the affidavit she filed while submitting her nomination papers for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections this past week, two of her commercial properties in the heart of the Capital at Connaught Place measuring 3,628.02 square feet and 4,535.02 square feet have been valued at Rs.2.05 crore and Rs.1.27 crore respectively, local traders and real estate experts beg to differ.
According to an eminent trader of the New Delhi Traders' Association that represents the traders in Connaught Place, the property valuations quoted are “ridiculously undervalued” and “hilariously off the mark”.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a trader said: “The value of her first property which is No.3, Block B, Inner Circle, Connaught Place, and is supposedly located on the ground floor would today be around Rs.27.21 crore at the rate of about 75,000 per square foot as opposed to Rs.2.05 crore quoted in the affidavit. The second property in Connaught Place which is B-34 and located on the first floor of Block B, Inner Circle, would be valued today at about Rs.13.60 crore at the rate of Rs.30,000 per square foot against the quoted figure of Rs.1.27 crore.”
“To the best of my knowledge these properties were purchased in the past four to five years itself and even then these properties would have been valued between Rs.15 crore to Rs.18 crore and not the hilariously low figures mentioned in the affidavit,” he added.
According to another trader who is part of NDTA but wished not to be named, the rates mentioned in the affidavit were most probably the circle rates at which the property was bought. “Most probably only the registered amount for the stamp duty on the circle rate must have been made public while the rest of the payment must have been in cash which no one has on record,” he added.
Meanwhile, one of Ms. Mayawati's sprawling residential property in New Delhi at 23-24 Sardar Patel Marg, Chanakyapuri, measuring 3,987.72 square metres has been valued at Rs.54.8 crore in her affidavit. But according to reputed real estate agency CB Richard Ellis, the capital value of an independent house in Chanakyapuri as on May 2010 stands at anywhere between Rs.7.75 lakh to Rs.8.50 lakh per square yard. These rates mentioned by the agency are the asking rates at which the seller expects to sell off his or her property and may change depending on the prevalent market condition.
As per the affidavit, she owns a total of five commercial properties and bungalows at prime locations in New Delhi, Okhla and Lucknow.
