Imphal, November 02: Hundred and thirty seven quarters constructed by the PDA at Langol Games village for the 5th National Games in 1999 have been turned into private houses and are found to have been leased out to private parties for the last four years.

This came to light when PDA Chairman K Ranjit toured the Langol Games village today at 1 pm.

Not ruling out the possibility of the involvement of PDA officials in the murky deal, the Chairman said fitting action will be taken up against all guilty officials and added that a meeting in connection with the case has been convened tomorrow at 3 pm.

Instructions have also been given to the PDA officials to submit a detailed report on the matter, said the Chairman.

The 137 quarters include 47 Type A quarters, 38 Type B, 25 Type C and 27 Type D.During the tour, the Chairman was informed that the rent range from Rs 600 to Rs 1500 per month.

The occupants of the quarters informed Ranjit that the quarters were leased out to them by two contractors.

The previous Govt had decided to allot the quarters to private parties and 36 individuals had deposited the stipulated 40 per cent of the price.

However the Govt later retracted and cancelled its earlier order to allot the same to private parties.

Of the 36 who had deposited their money, 13 have withdrawn their deposits while the rest are yet to do so.

In the interregnum between the two orders, some had invested quite a lot of money to refurbish the quarters.

Not taking the matter lightly, the Chairman said that it is a grave error and an over sight on the part of the PDA authority to allow contractors, whose bills have been paid, to continue to lease out the quarters on rent.

Similarly, it is also disturbing to see the PDA quarters being occupied, though the allotment order has been cancelled, he added.

At the least PDA stand to gain about Rs 1 lakh per month from the quarters, said K Ranjit and assured that he will put a stop to such practices now.

The 137 quarters will either be handed over to the Govt or else the PDA will lease it out to Govt employees, he added.

For the construction of the Games Village, PDA had taken a loan of Rs 30 crores from HUDCO.

As the amount has not been repaid, the outstanding dues payable to HUDCO has now ballooned to Rs 100 crores including interest.

Employees of PDA have also not been paid their salaries for the last 2 months and PDA needs Rs 8 lakhs per month to meet the salary demands of its employees.

The Chairman also inspected a site at Uripok Bachaspati Leikai, where a PDA park is set to come up.

A sum of Rs 4 lakhs was released in 2002-03 for the purpose, but due to some legal wrangling over the site, the work on the construction of the park is yet to kick off.

Comment