Chaotic scenes ruled the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday after the Opposition alleged corruption in the denotification of 12,500 hectare of land by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in two years. The MIDC had 14,219 hectare in its land bank.
While Leader of Opposition Radhkrishna Vikhe-Patil alleged this was a scam, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar said the denotification of about 12,500 hectare has resulted in a loss of ₹50,000 crore to the State government. He demanded that State Industries Minister Subhash Desai own responsibility for this, and resign immediately. The Assembly was adjourned thrice, with an aggressive Opposition entering the well of the House and raising slogans against the government.
Responding to the allegations, Mr. Desai claimed much of the land bank had been denotified during the Congress-NCP regime by then minister Narayan Rane. He said the land was denotified as per rules and to make way for development projects under Make in India.
“Almost 90% of the MIDC land bank has been denotified in the past two years. This is nothing but corruption. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) or another Central agency must look into this,” Mr. Vikhe Patil alleged. He added that as Industries Minister, Mr. Rane had turned down a proposal by a firm named Swastik Properties to denotify a piece of land in Igatpuri. “That was 2012, but the government now has granted permission and land to Swastik Properties. This land has been denotified even though no farmer has applied as per MIDC rules, which is necessary for denotification.”
Mr. Pawar, too, alleged corruption in the allotment of land to Swastik Properties. “If farmers had demanded denotification of this piece of land, it would be justified. Clearly, Mr. Rane did not denotify it, but this government has done so in violation of basic norms.”
Shiv Sena MLAs joined the fray and attacked the Opposition while defending Mr. Desai, leading to another adjournment. Mr. Desai alleged former ministers Mr. Rane and Rajendra Darda had denotified the piece of land. “The farmers and the local MLA had opposed the acquisition of land at Igatpuri. But keep in mind, in 2010, Mr. Darda denotified 128 hectare of land for Ashok Industries Pvt. Ltd. on the same grounds. Mr. Rane denotified land in four instances during his tenure.”
He said the MIDC committee had said most of the land had already been denotified and the rest was in small chunks, which wasn't useful. “At this point, a survey conducted by the District Collector said farmers were demanding ₹3 crore as compensation per acre. This wasn’t feasible as well. Based on the Collector’s report and the committee’s recommendations, we decided to denotify 106 hectare belonging to 113 farmers on January 30, 2016,” Mr Desai said.
He also alleged that the previous Congress-NCP governments were using the MIDC to protect the interests of a few, and not of the tribals and farmers. “Yes, so much land has been acquired by us, about 16,045 hectares, but all of it is being diverted for the Make in India projects.”
NCP leader and former Finance Minister Jayant Patil claimed Mr. Desai was giving different versions of facts. “There is difference in the data provided by the Minister and that in the files. The Minister was hiding the information that it was Ajay Nahar of Nahar Developers who submitted the application for denotification, and not the farmers as is being claimed by the Minister.”
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde said the ‘illegal denotificaton’ had led to a loss of ₹20, 000 crore for the government, and Mr. Desai should resign immediately.
