At ₹ 65 lakh per annum, VM Home a steal deal

Price determined citing the basic value of the land as per the sub-registrar’s office

The Victoria Memorial Home’s lands in Saroornagar, which were allocated for the Rachakonda Police Commissioner’s office recently, were a steal for the State government, which has brought down the lease amount by over ₹10 crore per annum by the stroke of a pen.

Through a government order issued on August 23, the government has revised the lease price to ₹ 1.25 per square foot of land, which amounts to ₹ 5,44,400 per month for 10 acres. Per annum, it would be ₹ 65,34,000 (which was printed as ₹ 65,34,00 in the GO). This would be close to ₹ 10.7 crore per annum less than the amount indicated in the original government order announcing the lease-out. The original price fixed in the GO, which issued just 12 days previously was ₹ 35,000 per square yard per annum, that amounted to ₹ 11,34,98,000 per annum. The GO has not been made available in the public domain .

The price was determined as per the recommendations of the Ranga Reddy District Collector who had cited the basic value of the land as per the sub-registrar’s office.

The throw-away lease price fixed for the Saroornagar Rythu Bazaar set up on the Home’s lands nearly two decades ago by the then TDP government was the justification provided by the State government for the current slash-down of the price.

On paper, the Rythu Bazar ought to pay ₹1,09,000 lease per month, but not a single penny has been realised so far.

The government had issued the first order on August 11, favouring transfer of 10 acres of the Home’s land to the Home department on lease for 11 years. The 73-acre campus of VM Home, set up as orphanage, houses a heritage building donated for ‘Yateemkhana’ by the sixth Nizam Mir Mahbub Ali Khan in 1905. The name was changed to Victoria Memorial Home, upon a suggestion by the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru in 1953.

The decision to accommodate Rachakonda Police Commissionerate here is disputed, as it goes against the Nizam’s endowment for educational purposes.

In 1994-95, the Home was converted into a regular residential educational institution, and now has over 600 students, most of them girls, and semi-orphans.

Ten acres of the home were acquired for the NH, about five acres were leased out to set up Rythu Bazaar, Babu Jagjivan Ram Bhavan (under SC Development department), Reliance petrol pump.