A day after the state government revised its policy of allotting government land at throwaway rates to stop its misuse, the Maharashtra BJP on Wednesday demanded that the government take back land allotted by the previous Congress-NCP government at Bandra to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), which owns National Herald .
BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the state government had appointed a committee headed by IAS officer Gautam Chatterjee to probe any irregularities in the land allocation to AJL, and the committee had recently submitted a report confirming irregularities.
Welcoming the state cabinet’s decision on Tuesday to revise the policy on allotment of land and give land only according to prevailing market rates, Mr Bhandari said, “We welcome the government’s decision to scrap the policy of the Cong-NCP government to give land to individuals or institutions at throwaway prices. Now, under the revised policy, the government should cancel the land allotment to National Herald .”
He said AJL, which is now controlled by Young Indian, was given 3,749 sq m of land to set up a research centre, but it is constructing a 11-storey commercial building on the plot. “The Cong-NCP government had given the land away at a cheap price, and had even waived the interest of Rs 2.74 crore,” he alleged.
“The Gautam Chatterjee Committee report had made it clear that more than 15 per cent of land cannot be put to commercial use, but AJL is constructing over 83,000 sq ft in blatant violation of government rules, and hence the government should take back the land,” Mr Bhandari said. He also demanded that the government should probe into recommendations based on which the land was allotted to Associated Journals Ltd and take action against the concerned political leaders and officials.
Associated Journals Ltd was given 3,749 sq m of
land for a research centre
