Rs 5-crore plot in posh Chandigarh alloted for Rs 50K

A plot measuring 1.5-Kanal (750 square meters), pegged at a whopping Rs 5 crore at current government rates, in Le Corbusier-designed Union Territory has gone for a mere Rs 50,000.

Similarly, a 1-Kanal plot valued at Rs 3.5 crore has been allotted at just Rs 35,000. The value in several crores of rupees of these plots is even higher in the resale market, said sources. All this is not a stroke of luck or a lottery by any means that may have benefited a few fortunate ones.

In fact, this windfall of sorts for four Chandigarh-based businessmen followed a draw of lots of plots by the estate office in the Union territory a couple of days ago. The process was put in place to hand over plots following the directions of the Supreme Court after a long drawn legal battle. The authorities were directed to offer plots to the beneficiaries at the market rate that existed 38-years ago in 1982 when the scheme was implemented.

The price then offered to the applicants was Rs 50,000, to be paid in instalments for an industrial plot measuring 750 square meters. Over the decades, the prices of these plots escalated manifolds and currently stood at an officially estimated rate of Rs 5 crore. The four beneficiaries paid the value of the plots that existed in 1982 and walked away with the bonanza of current market prices.

Real estate prices in posh Chandigarh for long have remained out of the reach of the common man. This week’s handover of plots at a pittance is being talked about in the corridors of power. The scheme to allot plots was floated in 1981. Thousands of people then applied to grab the offer. Out of the 339 successful applicants, 254 allottees could not get the possession of the plots for one or the other reason.

A few of them continued to pay the instalments over the years and moved the Supreme court, which eventually ordered the allotment of plots to the petitioners at the original prices.