PUNE: Nearly 40,000 members of 300-400 Sindhi families living in the Pimpri Camp area for generations are finally free to redevelop, sell or mortgage their land with the state government according the plots the freehold status.
Thirty-one Sindhi colonies across Maharashtra will become freehold land as a result of a small correction in land tenure approved by the state cabinet on Tuesday. The colonies, essentially plots given to refugees from then West Pakistan in the wake of Partition, had been designated as “restricted tenure” in Maharashtra.

The government’s move will see many such families in the Pimpri Camp area get complete ownership of their land and they can sell the plots without the collector. Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil said, “The decision will lead to improvements in the colonies. Development eluded many colonies because of the restricted tenure status.”

Harish Bodhani (58), who has 2,500sqft land in Pimpri Camp, is among those who had managed to get the freehold status earlier. “But there are several others who have been struggling for the tag so that they can redevelop their land or get complete ownership of shops. Several shops need to be redeveloped,” he said.

Bodhani’s grandfather, Bhavandas, and father, Shivlaldas, were teachers in then West Pakistan and had moved to The Pimpri Camp area nearly 70 years ago. “We got the freehold status by paying a price. But the tag still eludes many. The government’s decision will help them,” he said.

Former corporator Dhanraj Occhani, who has been staying in the area since the 1950s, said many land owners had got freehold property after a deal between representatives of the refugees and the central government. The agreement had ensured freehold for the land for those staying in the area before May 11, 1965. “The latest decision will help the people yet to get the status,” he said.

The district administration is yet to receive the government’s orders. Deputy collector Vijay Deshmukh told TOI that it would be a challenging task with limited manpower “to check for the true beneficiaries”. He said, “Only those coming under the Displaced Persons Act will be the beneficiaries.”

A major concern for the administration is the huge encroachment in the area. Deshmukh said, “We will have to identify the true beneficiaries and remove the encroachments. There’s another category of people, who did not have land but were given land. They, too, will enjoy the benefits of the order.”