Revenues from enemy properties paltry

Only 0.004% of value of assets was generated in 2013-14

India has immovable assets worth Rs 1.04 lakh crore belonging to people who migrated to Pakistan after the 1965 and 1971 wars, but the revenue generated from these properties is paltry.

Last month, Parliament passed amendments to the Enemy Property Act disallowing successors of those who migrated to Pakistan and China to claim properties left behind by their ancestors in India.

According to figures provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the revenue received from these properties, known as enemy properties, since the 2013-14 fiscal is Rs 5.06 crore, which is only 0.004% of the value of assets.

In the fiscal 2013-14, the government received a revenue of Rs 1.79 crore from the properties — the highest in the past four fiscals.

The next fiscal saw a drop in revenue to Rs 1.10 crore, only to rise marginally in 2015-16 to Rs 1.37 crore.

During 2016-17, the revenue generation till February was Rs 78.83 lakh.

Among the states, Uttar Pradesh, which has 4,991 enemy properties valued at Rs 82,441.23 crore, has earned the highest revenue at Rs 1.48 crore. Delhi, with properties worth Rs 81.69 crore property, has got a revenue of Rs 52.81 lakh.

Karnataka, with 20 enemy properties valued at Rs 15.18 crore, has not generated any revenue from these assets in the four fiscals.

The total value of movable and immovable enemy properties across the country is pegged at Rs 1.07 lakh crore. The number of immoveable enemy properties belonging to Pakistani nationals is 9,280, comprising of 11,882 acre of land,  and value of the total vested immoveable properties stands to the tune of Rs 1,04,340 crore.

Moveable vested properties consist of shares in 266 listed companies, having a valuation of Rs 2,610 crore, shares in 318 unlisted companies valued at Rs 24 crore, gold and jewellery worth Rs 38 lakh, bank balance of Rs 177.60 crore, investments in government securities worth Rs 150 crore and investments in fixed deposits worth Rs 160.58 crore.

The issue of enemy properties had become a raging controversy in the country when different political parties had taken different positions on it.

The government had brought the amendment following a claim laid by the heirs of poet and freedom fighter Raja Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan (popularly known as Raja of Mahmudabad, who had taken residence in Pakistan) on his properties in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.