The Maharashtra state cabinet has approved a big change to the land lease policy for the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). This is a big step toward making state-owned assets more useful for business. The new policy gives businesses an extra 38 years to use MSRTC’s extra land, bringing the total lease length to 98 years. This is a big change from the previous 60-year term.
The decision, which was made at a cabinet meeting led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, is part of a plan to make long-term projects more appealing to investors. The Chief Minister’s Office said that the longer lease, which is split into two sections of 49 years each, will make it easier to build modern bus terminals, shopping centers, and infrastructure for getting around in cities on MSRTC sites. This shift should bring in more investments and a bigger upfront payment for the transportation authority, which is short on funds.
This change in policy comes after other attempts to make money off of MSRTC’s land didn’t go over well. The previous 30-year lease tenure, and even the 60-year extension that was added in 2024, did not get enough interest from developers since big projects were not economically feasible. The new 98-year policy is meant to get around this problem and give the company, which runs about 15,512 buses, a steady source of income over the long term.
Other Important Cabinet Choices:
The cabinet also approved a number of other major measures in addition to the MSRTC land lease:
Policy for Nazul and Landlocked Plots: A new policy was approved to make the usage of government and “nazul” plots that are narrow, oddly shaped, and landlocked in cities more regular. This step is meant to make clear who owns these properties, which are often owned informally or are in dispute, and put them into a formal structure. The policy will let landowners next to these plots get them. This is true for all municipal corporations and councils in Maharashtra.
The cabinet authorized a ₹50 crore ex-gratia payment to help 1,124 workers at the now-closed Nagpur Weavers’ Cooperative Spinning Mill. The Office of the Textile Commissioner in Nagpur will manage the payment of this money. It will come from the sale of 20.20 acres of mill land to MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) at ready reckoner rates.
More Money for Leprosy Care: The government has raised the monthly grants for NGOs that care for leprosy patients by a lot in order to make healthcare better for them. The grant for 13 NGOs that run hospital-based centers has been raised from ₹2,200 to ₹6,600 per patient per month, which covers more than 2,000 beds. In the same way, 16 NGOs that provide rehabilitation-based treatment would now get ₹6,000 per patient each month for about 2,000 beds, up from ₹2,000. These changes are meant to make sure that a vulnerable group of people has a higher quality of life and ongoing care.