Tanuku TDR bond victims urge govt. not to penalise innocent buyers

The alleged violations were committed by the municipal officials and the original owners of the lands, they claim

Bonafide purchasers of certain Transferable Development Right (TDR) bonds issued by the Tanuku Municipality have been incurring huge losses as the State government has cancelled them stating that these were issued during 2021-22 by violating the rules.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday (October 26, 2024), the Tanuku TDR Bonds Victims’ Association members, including Yaganti Avinash, Battula Suresh Babu, honorary president of NAREDCO P. Mallikharjuna Rao and others urged the State government to provide relief to them as they were innocent and did not have any involvement in the alleged scam. They explained that it was the violation committed by the then Municipal Commissioner of Tanuku and the original owners of the lands.

The victims explained that they had purchased these bonds from the Andhra Pradesh Development Permission Management System (APDPMS) portal, which is the authorised website in the State for this purpose and they maintained that it was the responsibility of the government to ensure only proper TDR bonds were placed for public utilisation. More than 800 builders and individuals purchased these bonds across the State and now all of them were facing difficulties in getting clearances.

Mr. Suresh Babu said that if the State government cancels the TDRs issued by itself, then how would the citizens trust these bonds in the future. The builders who used the bonds were unable to complete constructions and sell properties resulting in huge losses. Small builders were not in a position to purchase the bonds again by investing additional amount.

Inquiry report

The AP Town and Country Planning Department cancelled 29 TDRs issued irregularly in the Tanuku Municipality basing on an inquiry report submitted by a four-member committee headed by Swapnil Dinkar Pundkar, the then Commissioner of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. This committee was constituted by the State government following the A.P. High Court orders in a PIL filed by the victims.

The report, accessed by The Hindu, said, “The original land owners purchased agriculture land and claimed it as developed built-up areas while submitting to the municipality. Further, they provided nearest door number, instead of claiming the bonds based on the survey numbers. Thereby, they escalated the value of the bonds, which is a violation. As per the rules, the agriculture lands must be shown in that category, while the developed built-up lands should be shown in its category. In addition to that, the then Municipal Commissioner also gave 1:400 ratio of bonds, instead of 1:200 ratio, which is another violation. Further, the lands were taken by the municipality even before finalising the Master Plan, which is another violation in this case.” 

“The value of the TDRs issued should be corrected. The value should be fixed as per the categories like agriculture or residential,” the committee recommended.

The victims, however, said the government should take action against the persons responsible for all these violations, instead of penalising the bonafide purchasers.

Ravuri Vidyullatha, Director of Town and Country Planning, told The Hindu that those who purchased them could withdraw them and go for new TDRs to complete their construction works. Otherwise, they could wait till the issue was addressed.

T. Ram Kumar, Commissioner of the Tanuku Municipality, said that they would fix the value of TDRs as per the agriculture land prices. The cancelled TDRs were related to about 28 acres of land.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is investigating the case.

Published - October 26, 2024 09:24 pm IST