VADODARA: In a clear attempt to distance himself from one of the joint venture (JV) partners of the company that has taken up the
Sanjaynagar slum rehabilitation project, Manjalpur MLA
Yogesh Patel on Saturday sought details about a land deal involving one of the partners of the JV
Jayanti Panchal of Narayan Realty.
Patel has been linked to Panchal in reports and it has been alleged that he took up the issue of Sanjaynagar rehabilitation and tried to help the JV due to his closeness with Panchal. In the past too Patel has denied this and said that he took up the issue only because he felt that injustice was being done to the developers.
Patel wrote a letter to the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) commissioner
Vinod Rao seeking details of the timber market land at
Danteshwar. The land was given to the timber market yard in lieu of their existing market in Madanjhampa area.
The timber market was badly gutted in a fire around 1980 and a decision was taken to shift it. The VMC procured land for the project from the state government and gave it to the association on subsidised rates for starting a new market. But the market never came up at Danteshwar as infrastructure like road and streetlights were not provided there.
Patel said that the land was sold by the association to Panchal. "I have been raising the issue 2008. I had written to Rao when he was the district collector and raised the issue with him even after he became the VMC commissioner," said Patel.
The VMC dug up documents within hours of Patel submitting the letter during a coordination committee meeting at the civic body. A reply by Rao states that the last judgement regarding the land had come in favour of the civic bod on June 10, 2016. He clarified that the land belonged to the VMC.
