Fadnavis rejects Cong charges on land scam

Rejecting the Opposition Congress’ charge that he had a role to play in giving prime plot of land at Navi Mumbai to a builder for a measly sum, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday announced that the State Government order a judicial inquiry into the alleged Rs 1,767 crore land scam involving the State-run the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).

After the ruling, BJP turned the tabled on the Opposition for making “baseless” allegations against the Chief Minister, Fadnavis disclosed in the State Assembly during the ongoing monsoon session at Nagpur that the previous Government had vested an Additional Collector with the powers to give permission to the displaced farmers to sell the land to a builder.

“There is absolutely no truth in the Opposition’s allegations against the chief minister. The previous Congress-NCP coalition Government had given powers to the additional collector to allot agricultural land to project-affected persons on ownership basis,”  Fadnavis said.

Replying to the queries on the alleged scam, Fadnavis sought to turn the table on the  Opposition, by saying that during the previous DF government,  as many as 627 Koyna dam project-affected farmers were given 606 hectares of land. “Of them, 200 farmers sold their land the same day on which they were allotted the land”/.

"During the Congress-NCP government, the decision was taken to give additional district collector powers to allocate class-I agricultural land which can be sold to anybody," he said.  Earlier in 1999, the land was allocated to project-affected persons on the basis of ownership and not lease..

Fadnavis said that the land allotment did not come to him in his capacity as the chief minister. “Did the file of allocation of 606 hectares come to you? Does this mean that you are responsible for sale of land by the project-affected farmers?," Fadnavis asked former chief minister and sitting Congress MLA Prithviraj Chavan.

Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minister and sitting Congress MLA.

Fadnavis pointed out that that the land in question did not belong to the CIDCO.  “It is the agricultural land belonging to the state government which is given to project-affected persons for agricultural purpose only. The builder purchased it from eight farmers as agricultural land. During 15 years of the Congress-NCP rule, 200 farmers sold the land allocated to them," Fadnavis said.

Hitting out at the Congress leaders for making “baseless” allegations against him, Fadnavis ridiculed the Congress leaders by asking: “"Whose resignation should I demand in retrospective effect… Prithviraj Chavan, Ashok Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde or late Vilasrao Deshmukh (all former chief ministers)?,” the chief minister asked the leader of the Opposition in the House Radhkarishna Vikhe-Patil.

On his part, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil slammed the Chief Minister said, "Those who stay in glass houses should not throw stones at others. I do not stay in a glass house. There is no question of my resignation. Instead, you should resign for levelling baseless charges against me".

Fadnavis also said that apart from 24 acres of land allotted during the previous regime, he would order a judicial inquiry into the 200 cases sold to bulding after the allocation of the land

Fadnavis said that the state government would be evolving standard opera6ting procedure of land. “But the state government will ensure there is no injustice to the Koyna dam project-affected persons as still 12 more applications (from farmers for land allocation) are pending," he said.

After Fadnavis’ statement. BJP’s Ram Kadam demanded an apology for making baseless allegations against the chief minister.

As the ruling party members continued their clamour for the resignation of the Opposition leaders, the Opposition members demanded that they be allowed to speak. The Speaker adjourned the House amid din on two occasion. When the House assembly assembled after the second adjournment, pandemonium continued. The Speaker adjourned the House for the day.

Earlier on July 2,  the Congress had sought to “expose” a Rs 1,767 crore land scam involving the state-run CIDCO and charged that Mumbai Congress on onday charged that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had allotted a prime plot of land at Navi Mumbai to a builder for a measly sum.  

It may recalled that on July 2, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam and party’s national spokesperson Ranjeet Singh Surjewala had alleged that Fadnavis-led saffron alliance government had transferred 24 acres of land worth Rs.1767 crores, to Paradise Builders, for a mere sum of  Rs.3.60 crore.

They alleged that the plot of land belonged to the CIDCO and it was reportedly meant to rehabilitate project-affected persons and farmers of the Koyna dam project.

Within hours after the Congress’ news conference, Maharashtra’s BJP  spokesperson Madhav Bhandrai dismissed all the allegations terming them as “false and baseless”, while party’s legislator and a Fadnavis' associate  Prasad Lad threatened to file a * Rs.500-crore defamation against Nirupam and the Congress.

“Getting photographed with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is no proof for the scam.  There is no truth in the allegations made by Nirupam. I have had close relations with many political leaders and builders over the years,” Lad said after the news operation.

“The Paradise Builders had already entered into an agreement to transfer this land for Rs.15 lakh per acres with the farmers. The CIDCO and Urban Development Department headed by Fadnavis gave their NOC to de-notify the land so it could be transferred to the builder,” Nirupam had alleged.

Nirupam  had also alleged that all other formalities were completed speedily and the builder was given the possession of the land last month, at a pittance of Rs.15 lakh per acre, when CIDCO had sold the adjoining plots of lands for a staggering Rs.184,000 per square metre.

Dubbing the Navi Mumbai land deal as a mega-scam, Nirupam and Surjewala had demanded a committee of two sitting judges of the Bombay High Court.