Do not be surprised if you find a majority of land transactions in Adilabad are now centred around the aerodrome or they being done for considerably higher value.
The incidence is only part of the modus operandi usually deployed by land owners who want to extract higher scale of compensation whenever the government initiates land acquisition, in this case for the purpose of establishing an Air Force Station.
A preliminary survey on availability of land has revealed that an extent of about 1,600 acres contiguous with the old aerodrome can be acquired within the limits of Khanapur, Kachkanti, Anukunta and Tantoli villages. The scale of compensation for these lands however, shows great disparity owing to the different market value of lands in different survey numbers.
In order to remove the disparity, owners of lands with lesser market value are resorting to transfers of small pieces of land in the name of some distant relative at an exaggerated price which will eventually help in determining a higher scale of compensation whenever the process of acquisition is initiated.
In survey numbers 41/4 and 46/3 in Kachkanti village for example, three transactions for 20 guntas each have taken place on May 15. While the market value of these lands is fixed at Rs.35,000 for 20 guntas or Rs.70,000 per acre, the registration was executed for an amount of Rs. 12.5 lakh for 20 guntas or Rs. 25 lakh per acre.
“Yes, such cooked up value of land is bound to help the land owners as it will increase the average land value in the area. As per relevant guidelines, an average of values through different transactions during the past year will be taken to fix the scale of compensation,” reveals a Revenue Department official involved in the process.
The current market value of lands under Khanapur village limits is Rs.12 lakh per acre and will more than double (Rs. 25.44 lakh) after a solatium of 100 per cent and 12 per cent additional market value are added to it. On the other hand, market value of lands in Kachkanti and Tantoli are comparatively low at about Rs. 3 lakh per acre and at Rs. 4.24 lakh per acre at Anukunta.
