The Delhi BJP on Thursday sought to corner the ruling Congress Government in Delhi in the alleged scam in the issue of provisional certificates to unauthorised colonies by charging that several of its senior leaders were involved in the sale of valuable government land in these areas through middlemen.
Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta brought attention to the issue of Taimur Nagar Extension adjacent to Taimur Nagar and charged that here senior Congress leaders were involved in the sale and purchase of the land of which the market rate was over Rs.3 lakh per square yard.
Mr. Gupta demanded that the Government should take appropriate steps to stop illegal sale and purchase of land in Taimur Nagar Extension and hand over the inquiry of this case to Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police.
Mr. Gupta said the DDA had taken over the land in Taimur Nagar Extension after completing the process of its acquisition. “The original owners of the land have been paid compensation. This land was acquired under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act by the DDA on June 23, 1989. The DDA had also taken over the possession of land after paying compensation at the rate of Rs.27 per sq m on June 22, 1992, under Section 6 and 17 of the Act,” he said.
Thereafter, he said, when the farmers had filed for additional compensation before the Additional District Judge, the court had in June 2011 increased the compensation of land from Rs.27 to Rs.89 per sq m and ordered the DDA to pay at this rate. Then, the original owners of the land, the farmers of the village, were paid compensation at the rate of Rs.89 per sq m.”
Advantage taken
But, Mr. Gupta charged, “taking advantage of the opportunity, some Congress leaders in connivance with the land mafia and with the help of fabricated documents have shown this land to be part of an unauthorised colony and got this colony a Provisional Certificate through Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in October, 2008”.
Noting that the Chief Town Planner of the MCD had two years ago complained to the Urban Development Department of the Delhi Government that 150 unauthorised colonies were non-existent, Mr. Gupta said “why has the Delhi Government remained silent on the issue for the last two years”.
“These colonies were shown to be inhabited in papers and Provisional Certificates were issued on this false basis to them. This is a massive scam as the aerial survey would have even then shown these colonies to be vacant plots and nothing more,” he said.
The BJP leader also expressed apprehension about the seriousness of the Government in probing this issue. He said already four different enquiries have been planned to “make it easy for the Government to cover up the scam”. Incidentally, while Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has asked Principal Secretary of Urban Development Department R. Chandramohan and Divisional Commissioner Vijay Dev to probe the matter, Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna has also ordered a probe. Further the Union Urban Development Ministry, under which the DDA falls, has also indicated a separate probe into the matter.
