HIDCO to kick off e-auction of plots on Monday

Kolkata: Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) will start e-auction of 25 residential plots from Monday in New Town.

This is for the first time that residential plots will be e-auctioned. One hundred and sixty persons have applied for 75 plots. The price of one cottah of plot is Rs 15 lakh. The area of the plots that will be auctioned will be around 4.5 cottah and are situated close to the Pancha More. HIDCO has already allotted 75 plots through lottery. Of these, 58 are individual plots and 17 are for housing complexes. There were more than 4,000 applications for 75 plots. The lottery was conducted in the most transparent way. The applicants participated in the draw. It may be recalled that there had been allegations of nepotism against the chairman's quota during the Left Front regime. The price of the plots was never made public. HIDCO chairman during the Left Front regime was Gautam Deb, who was also the state Housing minister. After coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made an exception by making Debashis Sen, an IAS officer, the chairman of HIDCO which was enjoyed by political persons conventionally. When HIDCO was formed in the mid 1990s, Deb became its chairman and Sanjay Mitra, who later became the state Chief Secretary and is now the Defense Secretary, was the Managing Director. The chairman's quota ceased to exist and lottery for allotment of plots was introduced.

The demand for plots in New Town, which is coming up as a green city, is going up fast because of rapid development. The plots that will be e-auctioned are situated close to Eco Park, the country's biggest urban park.

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