COMMENTARY
INTERVIEW
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Delhi queries Maharashtra on not allowing NTC mills' land sale

The Centre has demanded an explanation from the Maharashtra government on the latter's decision to permit the sale of three private mills' property while not granting the same to NTC mill, which are owned by the central government.

It may be recalled that the mills have not been functioning for many years and are located in prime land in south-central Bombay, an area much sought after by real estate developers in land-scarce Bombay.

In another development, differences seemed to have cropped up between the alliance partners, the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, over the sale of the Matalya Mills land with Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde abstaining from the cabinet meeting which decided on the issue.

Federal textiles ministry's additional secretary Rukmini Haldia, in a letter dated August 12, has expressed the ministry's unhappiness at the state government's double standards in allowing the private mills to sell their property while denying the same to NTC mills, which had passed a proposal to sell its land in 1992. The sale of NTC mill land would have earned it Rs 25 billion, which is to be used to rehabilitate the mills, the letter has claimed.

The state government replied immediately replied stating that it is seriously considering the sale of mill land and that a decision will be taken immediately. The state government also also clarified that permission to the three private mills was given earlier by the previous Congress regime and it had simply lifted the stay on the sale.

Meanwhile, the fate of Matalya Mills is still hanging in balance even as permission to sell the land of Khatau, Modern, and Great Eastern mills under Section 58A the Mill Development Regulation Act.

The matter has been forwarded to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. The state government is still to decide on the sale of Matalya Mills property.

Interestingly, Matalya Mills has made provision for selling land to the Bombay Municipal Corporation and the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority as per the provisions of Section 58A of the Mill Development Regulation Act.

Compiled and translated from the India media by Prasanna Zorey