None of audited sites developed: Railway land lying vacant as RLDA fails commercial development mission

In its report presented to the Lok Sabha, the Public Accounts Committee said that it reviewed 17 of the 49 sites entrusted to the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) by the Indian Railways in 2007 and noted that none of these were developed till 2017.

New Delhi: The Public Accounts Committee of the Lok Sabha has found that the Railway Land Development Authority failed in its objective to develop railway land for commercial use due to various reasons.

In its report presented to the Lok Sabha, the committee said that it reviewed 17 of the 49 sites entrusted to the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) by the Indian Railways in 2007 and noted that none of these were developed till 2017.

It added that only 40 of the 49 sites are commercially viable.

The committee -- chaired by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury -- selected the subject "Development of Railway Land for Commercial use by Rail Land Development Authority", which was based on the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report laid in the Lok Sabha on July 20, 2018.

According to the report, the Indian Railways has 43,000 hectares of vacant land, of which it entrusted 49 sites to the RLDA from 2007 to 2017 for commercial development to generate revenue.

"The committee observed that the audit reviewed the development of 17 sites, which were entrusted to the RLDA in 2007 when it was constituted and found that none of these sites had been developed," the report stated.

"Audit findings revealed that there were delays in the engagement of consultants, in the submission of reports by the consultants, taking permission from state governments for change of land use plan, deficiencies in entrustment of land to RLDA by the concerned zonal railways by providing encumbered land, identifying wrong site or sites with incomplete papers etc which resulted in non-development of these sites of 166.996 acres," it said.

The committee also found that, since being set up, while the RLDA incurred an expenditure of Rs 102.29 crore towards establishment, consultancy charges and advertisement, etc from 2006-07 to 2016-17, it only earned Rs 67.97 crore from the development of Multi-Functional Complexes (MFCs) at railway stations, which was not part of the earnings from commercial development of the entrusted lands.

The committee, in its report, said that on perusal of the status of development of these 17 sites, it was noted that only three sites were handed over for development, seven de-entrusted and handing over of the remaining seven sites was delayed due to various reasons such as the matter being pending in courts, valuation being done by consultants and termination of Letter of Administration (LOA), among others.

"The committee, while noting that the Railway Board has since issued instructions to all general managers to ensure title of the railways land parcel in Railways' name and encumbrances/encroachment free land before entrustment to RLDA, recommend to be apprised of the reason for de-entrustment seven sites and the status of handing over of the remaining seven sites to the RLDA,” the report said.

"The committee also desires to be apprised of the status of the 40 sites that were found to be commercially viable as on March 31, 2017," it added.

The panel also noted various other inaction on the part of RLDA such as delay in the appointment of consultants to ascertain the financial valuation of lands and to identify the potential use of land to provide maximum revenue and non-preparation of development plan.

It stated that since railways land was being demarcated in revenue records as a "public and semi-public zone", the same was required to be converted to a "commercial zone" by obtaining permission from the state government concerned through Change of Land Use, which the RLDA didn't do.

"...the committee opine that since land is a state subject under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India, the development of the surplus railways land in states/Union Territories should be in conformity with their master plan and, therefore, the RLDA may pursue with the other states accordingly or explore the option of revenue sharing with them to help speed up projects," the report said.