CHENNAI: This would rank as the biggest real estate giveaway of them all. The cash-strapped Chennai Corporation, which struggles to even pay arrears to its staff, has lost more than Rs 150 crore in revenue on its leased properties over two decades.

Land and properties adding up to about 1.5 lakh sq ft at prime locations such as Wall Tax Road, Naval Hospital Road, Bazaar Road, Sundaram Pillai Street, Basin Bridge Road, Veerapachai Street, Aziz Mulk Road and Harris Road have been occupied by lessees without paying rent since 1985. These buildings were leased out before Independence and many of the lease agreements expired in 1985. In many cases, the corporation has been unable to trace the lease agreement papers.

The few lease documents available with the corporation have faded. The civic body realised the magnitude of the problem recently when officials began scanning the documents, according to corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni.

“On examining the old documents in the department, we found that many of the lease agreements were not renewed. Efforts are on to reclaim those properties,” he said. As per the records, the local body has 545 such properties across the city, measuring between 30 sq ft and 2,400 sq ft leased out to private individuals to run businesses.