Realty projects worth Rs 41,500 cr halted in Punjab

The cancellation of no-objection certificates to housing projects by the Punjab Pollution Control Board yesterday, which was approved by the previous Congress government under mega projects, has jeopardised investments worth Rs 41,574.39 crore.

The cancellation has not only put investors in a spot but has also halted the future plans of real state companies in Punjab.

The Punjab Pollution Control Board has revoked all no-objection certificates issued to promoters of housing projects following a verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard.

Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued an order related to cancellation of no-objection certificates of housing projects near industrial areas.

According to a source, over 40 mega housing projects' no-objection certificates have been cancelled by the Punjab Pollution Control Board. Despite repeated attempts, the officials of the board could not be contacted.

During the Congress regime, 79 mega housing projects were cleared by the empowered committee with a proposed investment of Rs 41,574.39 crore spread across Mohali, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana and other districts in Punjab.

According to data collected by the Industry Department, actual investment by these companies in the state on November 2006 was Rs 1,913.24 crore. So cancellation of the certificates will add to their input costs.

Earlier, Ansal' s project had been issued notice. "Their team visited the site again to verify the facts and the data will be rectified soon," said Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd President D Sachdev.

Real estate firm Parsvanath's no-objection certificate had been cancelled by the board because of which the government had withdrawn the change of land use approvals.

Parsvanath executives confirmed that they had already filed a petition against the pollution control board in this regard. Some real estate players, on the condition of anonymity, said the government was unnecessarily harassing them on the pretext of the high court's orders.

Earlier, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance had publicly announced that these mega projects would be reviewed and if any discrepancies were found, they would be revoked.

Both the parties had also questioned the way so many projects had been passed in a hurry by the empowered committee during the last quarter of the Congress regime.

"This kind of development is likely to bring down the real estate prices in the state," said a property dealer.