The Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat office. Picture by Suman

Gaya, July 7: Non-availability of plots to build colonies for the poor in the district has cast a shadow on the implementation of basic service for urban poor (BSUP) project under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat has filed a writ petition in Patna High Court, seeking transfer of government land plots within the nagar panchayat area in the name of the civic body. This is the first time in Bihar that a civic body has approached the high court for transfer of government land in its name.

Citing reasons for filing the writ petition, Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat chairperson Priti Singh and vice-chairman Dinesh Kumar Singh told The Telegraph that owing to non-availability of plots, several development projects have been stuck for a long time.

The Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat has been selected under JNNURM. Under the city development plan prepared in 2005-06, colonies for financially weak and downtrodden villagers had to be constructed at seven places under the BSUP project of JNNURM within the area of Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat. Though the first phase of JNNURM will conclude in 2012, the construction work under BSUP could not start owing to the non-availability of land plots.

Vice-chairman Dinesh Singh said the available plots either fell under ceiling or people claimed to be in possession of parcha or parwana (a certificate issued by the land revenue department to people belonging to SC/ST for possession of land plot). At present, all records of land plots falling under the Bodhgaya Nagar Panchayat area is under the jurisdiction of the circle office.

A total of 2,000 units, each comprising two rooms, washroom and kitchen, had to be constructed at these seven places for an estimated cost of around Rs 49.59 crore. This includes construction of 612 units at an estimated cost of Rs 14.86 crore at Mastipur village, 252 units at Janpur village for Rs 6.24 crore, 432 units at Durgapur village for Rs 9.45 crore, 252 and 240 units at Neotapur I and Neotapur II respectively for Rs 5.98 crore and Rs 5.64 crore respectively, 88 units at Bapunagar village for Rs 3.21 crore and 124 units at Rampur village for Rs 4.21 crore.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) was given the responsibility of constructing these housing units. Hudco issued tenders at least seven times for Durgapur, six times for Neotapur II and five times each for Mastipur and Janpur. Finally, a Delhi-based company accepted the contract for construction. But the work could not start owing to the non-availability of plots. Another reason was when the list of beneficiaries was prepared, several villagers who had to surrender their plots, were left out. “For example, villagers of Janpur had to spare their plots, but not a single villager has been included in the list of beneficiaries,” Dinesh Singh said.

Even the construction of a new building of the nagar panchayat could not start though the foundation stone was laid around 18 months back by then Magadh division commissioner K.P. Ramaiah. The land plot identified for construction of the nagar panchayat building falls on the Gaya-Bodhgaya riverside road near Sambodhi dwar.

The state urban development department has provided Rs 40 lakh for the construction. A tender has also been issued but construction could not start on the pretext that the land plot falls under green zone.