The land has been given on lease to the Exhibition Society.
Representational image
Hyderabad: The 24-acre parcel of land where Numaish — the all India Industrial Exhibition — is conducted every year is said to be worth Rs 900 crore, according to estimates by the revenue department. The land has been given on lease to the Exhibition Society, which conducts the annual fete, by the roads and buildings department. The lease lasts till 2052.
The government now proposes to hand over the land to the society. However, to transfer the ownership of the land, the Exhibition Society will have to pay stamp duty, transfer duty and registration fee all of which totals six per cent of recorded market value of the land, or Rs 54 crore. A revenue official said, “The government can exempt the society from paying stamp and transfer duty along with registration fee by releasing a government order.”
Asked why the society was keen on securing ownership of the land, which it has on long lease anyway, Aditya Margam, honorary joint secretary of the Exhibition Society. said, it takes two months to setting up the infrastructure for Numaish. While this can be justified for the 46- day event, it takes weeks to set up infrastructure from scratch even for 3-4 day events.
“If the ownership is transferred to us, we can construct some infrastructure which will make it easier to conduct more events. This will help generate revenue which can be pumped into the 18 educational institutions that we run in Hyderabad and some underdeveloped areas of the state,” Mr Margam said.
Anil Swaroop Mishra, society vice-president, said, “We have been conducting Numaish on this land when it was shifted from Public Gardens by the Nizam’s government in 1942. The money generated from the events goes to the educational institutions we run. Students are charged one third the fee as compared to corporate institutions for quality education.”
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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