Pawan Kumar Bansal, former Union Minister and former city MP has criticised Ministry of Home Affairs for the rejection of UT's proposal of land allotment.

Bansal said this decision will sharply raise the cost of conversion of residential property from leasehold to freehold.
 
The MHA has reportedly taken this decision as Chandigarh Administration had not adhered to MHA's directions to not dispose of land at rates which are below those prevailing in the market. It was 5 years back that the ministry had asked the UT to frame a policy on the same.
 
Bansal said now the Administration will have to fix conversion rates for residential property, which was introduced in 1996, as per market rates, and it only shows that the decision has been taken without keeping in mind the interest of the city house owners who wish to convert their lease hold property to free hold. He said that the conversion rates should not be enhanced as during this period of non-conversion the concerned people have been paying annual ground rent to the Administration.

He said interestingly the ministry which is being run by the BJP government at the centre did not even consult its own party MP here before taking the decision. He added, it only shows the lack of coordination between the local MP and the government.
 
The former MP also had recently asked the Chandigarh Administration to register the flats allotted by the Chandigarh Housing Board under the partial self-financing scheme of 2001 on free hold basis in Sector 51-A at the rate of allotment/ transfer only and not the present market value.