Chandigarh, May 14:- The Chandigarh Housing Board, an autonomous body whose mandate is to provide housing to the middle class and economically weaker sections of the society, has indeed appeared as a money-making agent for the real estate developers.

Had the Chandigarh Administration or Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) levied the same conversion charges to the real estate giant Parsvnath Developers Limited, which they are charging from the city industrialists, it would have earned the exchequer hundreds of crores more as compared to what they have earned now.

The prime commercial land, measuring 123.79 acres, which was earmarked to provide housing to Information Technology professionals, has been allotted by the Chandigarh Administration to Parsvnath for raising a huge housing complex next to the Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park.

The Chandigarh Administration allotted the land to Chandigarh Housing Board at the rate of Rs 308.77 for every square yard, i.e. Rs 18.5 crore for 123.79 acres.

The land was further sold to Parsvnath at Rs 829 crore. The actual value of the land, on the same formula, which the Chandigarh Administration is using in case of conversion charges of industrial land, would indicate that the Administration has lost approximately Rs 1.43 lakh per square yard.

According to information procured under the Right to Information Act, the ‘dubious’ role played by Chandigarh Housing Board has become quite evident.

When the CHB had to make houses for the middle class and economically weaker section, it got the land from the UT Administration at the rate of Rs 3,200 to Rs 5,900 per square yard.

The cost is bound to be automatically passed on to the consumer. The Income Tax department has already issued a notice to the CHB for the payment of tax on the amount already received from the developer.