Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday said the government had palmed off public land at throwaway rates to private players to develop roadside rest-stops for travellers.
Mr. Chennithala said the government had created a company, Overseas Keralites Investment and Forwarding Limited, as a fig leaf to cover the fraudulent give away of prime land at a low price to business persons.
The government had only a minority stake in the company, a mere 24%. It had named one O. V. Mustapha and Baiju George Parappadu as directors, he said.
Mr. Chennithala said the government had not revealed the criteria for including the businessmen as top stakeholders in the so-called public-private venture. Mr Mustapha was on the board of at least 14 other companies, Mr. Chennithala said.
The government had earmarked 2 to 4 acres of prime land for the company to develop the amenities in Alappuzha, Ernakulam, and Wayanad. The government largesse to the company also included land owned by the Steel Industries, Kerala, in Cherthala, he said.
‘Roundabout way’
Mr. Chennithala said the government had found a roundabout way to gift public land to private developers under the guise of a public-private partnership.
The CPI which holds the Revenue Portfolio had opposed the “land transfer”. A bulk of the land earmarked for transfer to the company to purportedly develop wayside amenities abutted arterial national and State highways and had a high real estate value, he alleged.
The government should release the copy of the MoU it had entered into with the company publicly. It should state whether the Cabinet had cleared the land transfer, he demanded.
Mr. Chennithala said the government had denied public sector Indian Oil Corporation the use of public land to develop rest stops and fuel stations for motorists.