Business Standard 29.03.2010
Crumbling Shimla house fetches Rs 1.86 crore
Baldev S Chauhan / New Delhi/ Shimla March 29, 2010, 0:59 IST
A dilapidated single storey house in Shimla has been sold for well over five times its actual market value at Rs 1.86 crore, as bidders descended here from across northern India to buy this property today.
At least 25 bidders were competing for this Himachal Pradesh Housing & Urban Development Authority(Himuda) property. A happy Sunil Kukreja of Delhi won the bid by paying Rs 1.86 crore.
“This price is only for the 250 sq metre land, as the over twenty year old almost falling structure will have to be demolished and built again,” a senior official of Himuda told Business Standard.
“Naturally we are overwhelmed by the price the house has fetched. It also proves that there is no recession of real estate in a popular tourist resort of Shimla,” he said.
The house is located in the New Shimla area which lies in the lower section of the hill station. “Even the unlucky 13 number(address) of the house did not deter the bidders,” the official said.
The house was built by Himuda in the 1980s. The then owner from Delhi paid only Rs 700,000 and refused to pay the enhanced installments to Himuda.
The matter went to various courts during the last two decades. Recently after a decision by the Supreme Court, Himuda won the case and paid the owner Rs 900,000 including interest and took possession of the house.
Recently, a major controversy was averted by Himuda when a powerful minister of the ruling P K Dhumal government almost bought the house for Rs 35 lakh, which is the actual market value of the property.
But the deal was put off at the last moment by Himuda and bids were invited instead.
Neighbours say the house has been unoccupied since the colony was built in the 1980s. Stray cattle and donkeys took shelter here for long, particularly during the snowy and icy Shimla winters. “We never saw the owner. We only know for the past decade or so a homeless mentally retarded Nepalese labourer stays here. After today’s bid this man(labourer) will now become homeless again,” said a neighbour.
