The funds-starved Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT) has decided to develop 250 acres of prime land it owns across the city to raise money for its employees and also the projects it plans to undertake.

The plots that will be developed through public-private partnership are in Ultadanga, Keyatala, Beleghata and Dum Dum.

CIT chief engineer Deepankar Ghosh Hazra said the organisation is not in a position to take up any major development work because of a “severe funds shortage”.

Besides, he warned, if immediate steps are not taken to raise funds, the CIT would soon find it difficult to pay pension to its retired employees.

“To reverse the situation, we plan to construct highrises to accommodate those who have been staying on the plots and utilise the rest of the land for commercial purposes. We would like to go into public-private partnership to build the flats,” Ghosh Hazra added.

The CIT is now surveying the plots before finalising the plans for their development. The organisation is trying to find out the number of dwellers on the plots and how many flats would have to be built for them.

According to the proposal, half the funds for building the flats would come from the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme, under its Basic Services for Urban Poor project. The beneficiaries would have to cough up 12 per cent of the cost and the rest would be borne by the state government.

“Proper development of these plots — around 250 acres — will fetch us a hefty amount that will help us tide over the crisis,” Ghosh Hazra added.

Funds crunch has long been a problem of the CIT, a century-old organisation. In an attempt to tackle the problem, the organisation was merged with the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority in 1988.

“But the merger was an unhappy union,” said P.B. Nag, general secretary of Development Employees Joint Action Committee.