Nagpur’s MIHAN-SEZ asks DLF to return allotted 140 acres over failure to begin work 15 years on

In 2007, DLF was given possession of the 140 acres to develop IT towers spread across 9 million sqft in Nagpur. The construction was expected to give employment opportunities to around 1 lakh people. However, nothing has taken off yet.

The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Nagpur, the Multi Modal international Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) in Maharashtra has asked the Gurugram-headquartered DLF to return the 140 acres land it had been allotted in 2007 for construction of an IT Park in Nagpur.

Authorities at the SEZ said that the company has not done any construction even after 15 years of the allotment.  The land parcel is located in MIHAN-SEZ at Nagpur.

In 2007, DLF was given possession of the 140 acres to develop IT towers spread across 9 million sqft. The construction was expected to give employment opportunities to around 1 lakh people. However, nothing has taken off yet.

"We have issued notices to DLF especially considering that the audit also recommends taking back the unused land. Initially, DLF wrote to us about surrendering the land, but later they again wrote to us stating that they are reconsidering development on the land," V Sraman Development Commissioner of MIHAN-SEZ told Moneycontrol.

"Our request to them remains that we are ready to facilitate, but they should submit a plan as to what do they plan to do on it. A proper plan has to be submitted to carry out any activity that is permitted inside the SEZ," Sraman added.

Along with DLF, several other companies were also allotted land, but have either only partially built IT parks or have done zero work on ground, according to an official.

Several other companies, such as Infosys, Infocepts, TCS and HCL already have their units operational inside the SEZ.

Meanwhile, an email query has been sent to DLF seeking response on the above.

Also read: Maharashtra authorities plan tourism park in MIHAN SEZ in Nagpur

The MIHAN project is spread across 4,300 hectares of land that also includes expansion of the existing Nagpur International Airport.  Of this, around 1,200 hectares is reserved for the SEZ, followed by non-SEZ reservation for open spaces, residential and retail development.

Since 2007, the authorities had anticipated an IT boom in Nagpur,  owing to which Rs 8,500 crore was expected to be generated annually. This was in the form of income of 1.77 lakh IT professionals and other employment opportunities that were expected to come out of MIHAN-SEZ.

However, in the following years, Pune, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru paced up their IT infrastructure and today are much ahead of Nagpur, the officials added.

Also read: Godrej Properties acquires 109-acre land parcel in Nagpur

According to SEZ authorities, of the over 1,200 hectares, around 20 percent is occupied and active, 68 percent of the land inside SEZ is vacant, and the remaining land parcels house units that are inactive or functioning without approval

The Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC), the nodal agency for the MIHAN project, has till now leased out land to major IT companies including HCL, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and other blue-chip companies such as Tata Advanced Systems, Hexaware BPS (Caliberpoint), Lupin Ltd and Air India Inc, for setting up of IT parks, manufacturing units and MRO facilities.