Rubbishing allegations of a "conflict of interest" vis-a-vis a hill resort in Nandurbar by the NCP, Maharashtra Tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal today said the Opposition was maligning his image on the basis of "false" information provided by his opponent. "I do not have any association with the Toranmal hill resort in the present nor had in the past. I was neither a director nor a promoter of the company.
The NCP had levelled baseless allegations feeding on false information provided by an opponent in my constituency," Rawal told reporters here. The BJP leader represents Sindkheda constituency in Dhule district of North Maharashtra. Earlier in the day, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged that Rawal's company Toranmal Hill Resorts Private Ltd. was operating the resort in Nandurbar district in north Maharashtra despite the company being blacklisted by the state-run tourism development corporation (MTDC). "From 1998 to 2006, Rawal's company Toranmal Hill Resorts Private Ltd. was given an MTDC resort on lease. The company did not pay the lease rent to the MTDC, which in turn invoked provisions of the Eviction of Public Premises Act, in 2011 and sent a notice to the company. Rawal said the Opposition should have furnished proofs while levelling the charges against him. "In 1990-91, the MTDC officially gave the (Nandurbar) hill resort to MTDC Hill Resort Private Ltd (MHRPL) and for several years, rent was duly paid," the minister claimed. He said he was a student when the resort was handed over to the MHRPL. "J J Rawal was the director then and he resigned in the year 2000. Since then, none of our family members have any relation with the resort," he said. Rawal said he was not associated with the company in any manner. "Similarly, I have not been associated with the company in any way and thus the question of there being a conflict of interest does not arise," Rawal said.
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