Kingdom of Dreams in Gurgaon sealed over ‘non-payment’ of dues!
Gurugram's Kingdom of Dreams sealed!
Gurugram's Kingdom of Dreams sealed

Kingdom of Dreams was India's first live entertainment, theatre and leisure destination.

It is located in Sector 29, Gurgaon, Haryana in NCR Delhi, near the Leisure Valley Park.

It was inaugurated on 29 January 2010 by the Chief Minister of Haryana and opened to public on 18 September 2010 by Union Minister of Tourism, Kumari Selja.

Spread over 6 acres and built at a cost of over Rs. 2 billion, Kingdom of Dreams is run by the Great Indian Nautanki Company (GINC), a joint venture between Apra Group and Wizcraft.

The destination consists of two theatres, Nautanki Mahal and the Showshaa Theatre, and a cultural and cuisine area known as Culture Gully.

KOD, which has been in a protracted financial tussle, has been long past its heyday when its Bollywood musicals were a major crowd puller and opened a new dimension in the entertainment scene.

One of them Jhumroo, reached the 1,000 shows landmark in 2015.

More recently, the premises were being rented out for weddings and gatherings.

Urban development agency HSVP (Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran) sealed the premises of the Kingdom of Dreams (KOD) on Friday after cancelling its land lease agreement for not clearing dues amounting to around Rs 208 crore.

Officials said while KOD had defaulted on paying Rs 108 crore in rent, HSVP had imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on it.

Sources in the agency said HSVP might auction the property in future.

Then known as HUDA, HSVP had in 2005 leased out 5.7 acres of prime commercial land in Sector 29 to the Great Indian Nautanki Company for an auditorium and entertainment complex, which was eventually developed as KOD.

The lease was for 15 years, with a monthly rent of Rs 36 lakh and a provision to raise it by 10% every year.

In all these years, the developers of KOD haven't paid rent, officials said.

Several reminders and notices were issued to KOD in the past to clear the dues

One such notice was issued in September last year, when HSVP asked its developers to clear the total accumulated rent of Rs 107 crore, including interest. In July 2022, the dues had increased to Rs 108 crore.

The developers of KOD were also accused of encroaching on 1.5 acres of government land.

When a series of notices failed to elicit any response from KOD, HSVP first terminated the lease of land on July 6 and then imposed the penalty for failure to pay rent.

On Friday (15th July), an HSVP team sealed the premises and took back possession of land.

"Instead of clearing the dues, the developers encroached on land valued at Rs 114 crore

Controversies have chased KOD right from the beginning. There were allegations of irregularities in the allotment of land by the government. In 2014, when the regime changed in Haryana, a complaint was lodged against the developers.

It was also alleged that the developers had mortgaged government land to raise money from banks. A vigilance inquiry was initiated, but it has remained inconclusive

In 2016 too, KOD was threatened with termination of the lease agreement.

But the developers sought concession from the government, saying they were under extreme financial stress.

A three-member panel of bureaucrats was formed to scrutinise the request.

As part of the concession, the KOD developers sought the extension of lease period from 15 to 99 years, the extension of rent moratorium from 12 (from the date of allotment) to 44 months and permission to sub-lease the land, among others.

In 2017, the three-member panel submitted its report, but it was never made public.

KOD was allowed to continue and HSVP did not take any action on its notice either.

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