Hindustan Times (Patiala)

Now, people’s poll to decide Huda’s property auctions

- Munieshwer A Sagar munieshwer.sagar@hindustant­imes.com

In a first, for all Haryana Urban Developmen­t Authority (HUDA) auctions from now, people’s poll will decide which properties will be included in an auction. Earlier, the selection of properties for auction was done as per HUDA officials’ discretion.

People will be able to show their intent for a particular­ly property on the HUDA web portal. A summation of these public intents, processed automatica­lly through software developed for this purpose, will decide which properties will be included in an auction.

ALL GEOTAGGED INFORMATIO­N TO BE SHARED ONLINE FOR PUBLIC POLL, PREAUCTION STAGE TO BE FULLY AUTOMATED

MINIMISING DISCRETION

“HUDA is conducting e-auctions for some time now for different kind of properties, including commercial, institutio­nal, and commercial located under the jurisdicti­on of its 18 estate offices. We have automated and put online the process of auction of properties (e-auction), minimising the interferen­ce of the HUDA officials in it, thereby, bringing much-needed transparen­cy in the auction process,” said a senior HUDA official associated with the project, who didn’t want to be named.

He added, “But the process before the e-auction is entirely at the discretion of the officials in different estate offices. Now, we want to minimise human element even in the pre-auction stage.”

Earlier, only a select number of properties were auctioned out of the total sites available, with the prospectiv­e bidders having no say in it. The number and type of property was decided by HUDA officials.

From time to time there were allegation­s of collusion between HUDA officials and vested interests in the selection of properties for an auction. “The new process will eliminate even remote possibilit­ies

of such unsavory collusions,” said the official.

PRIOR GEO-TAGGED INFORMATIO­N

Every property available with HUDA will be made available for the public to be examined. “All properties available for auction will be geo-tagged, which will clearly show the location, dimension and area of the property on a map. In addition to it, the prospectiv­e bidder will be able to know all informatio­n related to a property including its cost, type of locality a property is located in, the type of surroundin­gs etc. All this informatio­n will be available on the HUDA web portal,” said the official.

The pre-auction automated processes will also allow realtime updating of the properties available for auction. “A live feed from different estate offices will update the list of sites available for e-auction,” he said.

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