Maha govt mulls disposing unused land to raise addnl revenue

The debt-ridden Maharashtra government is mulling to dispose of its unused land of commercial value of around Rs 5,000 crore, after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave a target of raising Rs 12,000 crore to give a boost to the state exchequer.
Fadnavis recently chaired a meeting to take stock of the state's financial status and discussed measures to raise additional revenue.
Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Sudhir Kumar Srivastava and other secretaries were present at the meeting.
According to a senior finance department official, the Chief Minister has given a target of increasing revenue by Rs 12,000 crore for the current financial year.

"The CM has pointed some sectors through which revenue can be generated. He is in favour of bringing policies that will increase the use of land for residential and non-agriculture purposes," the official said.
"An additional premium for additional Floor Space Index (FSI) if a developer asks for it, additional premium for additional Transferable Development Rights (TDR) and also additional premium for the change of use land of from agriculture to residential or commercial purposes were the few suggestions made by the Chief Minister," he said.

An additional revenue of at least Rs 5,000 crore is expected if these measures are implemented, he said.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that a change in the class of lease land will also add revenue of around Rs 2,000 crore to the state exchequer.
"There are several government-owned lands across the state that are allocated to various trusts or people on a lease basis. If we will change its class from lower class to A class, its rent amount will increase and ultimately, an additional revenue will be generated," the minister said.
"We are considering to dispose of unused government land having scope of development systematically and in a transparent way. We expect that it will generate at least Rs 5,000 crore for the state exchequer," he said.

However, Mungantiwar said there is no need to dispose all government lands.
The state is overburdened with more than Rs 14,000 crore due to various provisions for drought, LBT and exemption from toll to vehicles, he said.
The CM had in January this year given a special target to road transport, urban development, revenue and housing departments. However, the performance of these four major departments till August end was poor.