Chandigarh: Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) today announced that it would clear all pending original awards for the land acquired by it in the state by the first week of September. HUDA was scheduled to pay over Rs 3,800 crore to 36,931 landowners.

Chandigarh: Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) today announced that it would clear all pending original awards for the land acquired by it in the state by the first week of September. HUDA was scheduled to pay over Rs 3,800 crore to 36,931 landowners.

Facing a severe financial crunch, HUDA had taken loans from banks to clear dues of landowners. Sources said while Rs 3,600 crore had already been received, a further loan of Rs 4,000 crore would be received soon.

HUDA had already uploaded on its official website a combined priority list of 36,931 farmers to whom it owed Rs 3,800.41 crore as compensation for the land acquired for development of residential or commercial sites.

Of this, Rs 2,055.54 crore was payable to 6,104 landowners in the Gurugram-Rewari zone, Rs 988.91 crore to 13,404 in Rohtak zone, Rs 315.35 crore to 8,998 in Panchkula zone, Rs 221 crore to 4,216 in Hisar zone and Rs 219.61 crore to 4,209 persons in Faridabad zone.

“Though it is named as a priority list, I want to make it clear that there is no priority as such in case of original awards. We have enough funds at our disposal to clear all these dues. Whosoever comes first will get the payment first,” said J Ganesan, Chief Administrator, HUDA.

He said the persons whose names appeared in the list could submit relevant documents as well as their bank account details with the Land Acquisition Officers (LAOs) of their respective zones and the money would be deposited in their accounts immediately.

“The disbursal of payments has already started. I sanctioned payments worth Rs 140 crore today to persons who had submitted their documents,” Ganesan said. He said LAOs were told not to delay any case as Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was particular about making payments as soon as possible.

He said once the payments HUDA owed to landowners for original awards were cleared, it would proceed to clear dues of enhancement ordered by courts. The enhanced awards would be paid on the basis of priority list and not on a first-come-first-served basis, he stated. Asked how much HUDA owed to landowners towards enhancement ordered by various courts, Ganesan said a combined priority list would be prepared soon. Sources said the enhanced award amounts could be more than the original compensation dues.