A report by the Comptoller and Auditor General has once gain brought the alleged collusion between land mafias and state government agencies in the limelight.
The report states the local land mafias and small-time property dealers, too, like some big corporate houses, evade the change of land use (CLU) charges, resulting in heavy losses to the state exchequer.
The report further highlights that the state government agencies, instead of initiating actions on such unauthorised colonies, often regularise those, paving the way for all amenities to the dwellers in due course.
It was published in the report of the Comptoller and Auditor General of India that the state has, on record, 1,320 unauthorised colonies as on June 30, 2012.
The auditor, which conducted a survey of 1,281 households in a sample of 41 colonies across eight districts of Haryana, noticed gross violations of various Acts and breach of rules by various departments/authorities.
Sources in the CAG said the sub-registrars in the revenue department (tehsildars) in towns register the land deals without obtaining the NOC (no objection certificate) from the Department of Town and Country Planning. This was mandatory under the Haryana Development and Regulations of Urban Areas Act 1975 (HDRUA Act) to regulate the use of land so as to check ill-planned and haphazard urbanisation.
All the unauthorised colonies studied by the CAG enjoy electricity connections from the state owned power supply companies, water supply and other connections from the state departments.
An amount of Rs 5.95 cr, according to the CAG, has been spent in five municipalilties and one block from 2005-2011 on construction of brick street and drainage system.
Even the police department did not take any action on the complaints lodged against the mushrooming of unauthorised colonies.
Land is scarce and Haryana offers the highest compensation for the land compensation. At the same time, its inactivity was giving the land grabbing lobby a free hand.
These 1,320 cases are on records. The CAG apprehended that the estimated loss of revenue to the government could be much higher.
