E-Auction in New Town's Action Area II sees stellar response

Kolkata: The residential plots sold through e-auction in Action Area II in New Town by Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), has evoked great response with one plot being sold for Rs 57 lakh per cottah.

Twenty two out of 25 plots have already been sold and e-auction for the remaining three plots will be held on May 2. The highest price received so far is Rs 343 lakh for a 6 cottah plot. The average price for a cottah of land in the remaining 22 plots stands at Rs 38-39 lakh. The area of the plots measuring 5 cottah will be e-auctioned on May 2. These plots will be leased out for 99 years.

HIDCO had decided to sell 100 plots in2017. Of these, 75 plots have been sold through lottery and the remaining 25 plots will be sold through e-auction. The first online booking for 75 plots began on January 28 in presence of Firhad Hakim, the state Urban Development minister.

There were around 4,000 applicants for the 75 plots. Of the 75 plots, 58 plots were meant for individual houses, while the remaining 17 plots were meant to set up housing cooperatives. Of the 58 plots, 25 were reserved for people belonging to the middle income group (MIG) and the remaining 33 plots were for the people belonging to the higher income group (HIG). The area of the plots varied between 2.5 cottah and 5 cottah.

The population of New Town is 1 million, with 0.5 million additional floating population.

New Town is a green city, where various steps have been taken to increase the green cover and conserve energy. The waste water is being recycled to water the roadside trees. Over the years, New Town has come up as an educational hub, with several private and state-run universities constructing their second campus there.

It is the IT hub of Kolkata and has come up fast as a cultural centre as well. New Town is also the country's first township, where cycle sharing scheme has been introduced and is becoming immensely popular. There are graded paths for bicycles. New Town also houses the country's biggest convention centre.

There had been several complaints against allotment of plots during the Left Front regime. The people were kept in the dark regarding the price of the plots.

After coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had abolished the chairman's quota and made a bureaucrat the chairman of HIDCO. The lottery to allot plots was also conducted maintaining clarity.