After the former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan, had to resign for his alleged involvement in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam, the focus now shifts to Narayan Rane, a Cabinet Minister then, for allegedly misusing a 1,500 square metre plot meant for a community centre to build a commercial complex. A delegation of Shiv Sena Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Legislative Council met Mumbai Suburban District Deputy Collector here on Thursday with documentary evidence that Mr. Rane had taken land on lease in Andheri (West) from the government at meagre rates for building a community centre.
“Prithviraj Chavan [the new Chief Minister] has assured the people that the new Council of Ministers will have clean members. Narayan Rane is the king of tainted ministers. Not only should rightful action be taken against him, but he should also be kept away from any ministerial position,” Arvind Sawant, a Shiv Sena leader, told journalists after meeting the Deputy Collector.
Mr. Sawant said that the plot in Andheri was given on lease to Kankavli-based Sindhudurga Shikshan Prasarak Mandal in 1999 at the rate of Rs.200/metre for building a community centre. Mr. Rane was the chairperson of the trust then.
When the lease was renewed in 2007, Mr. Rane's wife Neelam Rane was named the chairperson in the land records. His sons, Nilesh and Nitesh, were named deputy chairperson and treasurer respectively.
Mr. Sawant told journalists that the land has been used to build a high-end restaurant ‘The Jail' and ‘Imperial' banquet hall.
“The rent they charge for the banquet hall is Rs.3 lakh a day. Even the restaurant is very costly. The name of the restaurant suggests that Rane knows his final destination. We'll help him reach there,” he said.
He showed a copy of the Memorandum of Association (MoA) of the trust and the terms on which the land was leased to the trust. ( The Hindu has a copy of the MoA, land records, letter of guarantee submitted by the trust and related official communication from the Mumbai Suburban District Collector's office.)
The letter of guarantee submitted by the trust clearly states that the land will be used to build a community centre only. The government has the right to cancel the lease of the land without giving any compensation if a norm of the agreement is violated.
“We have requested the State administration to immediately conduct investigation so that the records and the structure are not tampered with. It seems like the officials here are under pressure from their political bosses. If they do not act, we will take this matter to the court; we will also raise protests,” Mr. Sawant said.
Shiv Sena's Parshuram Uparkar, has written the letter of complaint to the Collector. He has requested that the land be immediately taken back.
