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STATES,
GUJARAT
Realty
Bite
Several
lawmakers, among them the chief minister and the leader of the Opposition,
are accused of dubious land deals in Gandhinagar
By
Uday Mahurkar
 |
| This
complex in sector 22 is on the land allotted to Keshubhai |
When
the Gujarat government decided to shift the state capital from Ahmedabad
to nondescript Gandhinagar 30 km away in the 1960s it also decided to
allot residential plots at subsidised rates to MPs, MLAs and government
employees to lure them to the new capital. The idea was to transform Gandhinagar
from a chaotic mix of farmland and forests to a place befitting a state
capital.
However,
contrary to what planners had hoped, instead of settling down in Gandhinagar,
many among the high and mighty misused the scheme and made millions by
selling the plots to builders at hefty premiums. Nearly a fifth of the
beneficiary lawmakers sold the plots they had got at less than a tenth
of the market price. Many of these sales have been in gross violation
of allotment rules.
The lure
of lucre has cut across party affiliations. Among those accused of making
money out of government largesse are Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and
Leader of the Opposition Amarsinh Chaudhary of the Congress. On Keshubhai's
330 sq m plot stands a six-apartment complex called Arihant Palace. Keshubhai
owns one apartment, another houses a beauty parlour while yet another
is up for sale. The price: Rs 6.5 lakh. Keshubhai wasn't available for
comment but a spokesman said that the chief minister had not violated
any rules. "When the chief minister was allotted the plot, a person
could sell a plot after five years," he clarifies.
When Chaudhary
was allotted a 300 sq m plot in the early 1970s, Sector 1 was not a very
posh location. So he got it transferred to the upmarket Sector 19, only
to sell it off to a builder in the early 1990s and buy a 800 sq m plot
in Sector 20 where his palatial bungalow stands today. Technically, Chaudhary
did not break any rule because he got the land before 1986 when allottees
could sell off their plots after constructing houses on them. (Those allotted
plots after 1988 can sell a plot in the open market immediately after
constructing a house on it but must give 50 per cent of the premium to
the government.)
It is not
difficult to fathom why lawmakers are behaving like petty wheeler-dealers.
At Rs 300 a sq m, a plot measuring 330 sq m cost just Rs 1 lakh. But in
the open market that plot is now worth almost Rs 15 lakh.
Few Exceptions:
Even those in charge of checking such irregularities have fallen prey
to greed. Construction work is about to begin on the plots allotted to
Gujarat's Minister of State for Urban Development Parmanand Khattar and
former bjp MP Haribhai Patel. While sources in the locality confirm that
the plots have been sold to a builder who plans to construct apartments
there, Khattar claims he is building his own house on the plot. Similarly,
an apartment complex is coming up on the plot belonging to Congress leader
and former state finance minister Babubhai Meghji Shah.
There are
those, however, who have chosen to swim against the tide. Nonagenarian
former chief minister and Janata Party leader Babubhai Jashbhai Patel,
the sitting Congress MP from Kheda, Dinsha Patel, and Rajya Sabha MP Ilaben
Bhatt of sewa fame have actually returned the plots allotted to them,
saying that they had no plans of building a house.
Since the
issue involves big names, officials are not willing to speak on the irregularities.
Declares Gandhinagar District Collector S.J. Haider: "The collectorate
isn't aware of any such violations so far." Officials say the collectorate
takes action after the chief architect and planner reports the irregularity.
But Chief Architect and Town Planner Deepak Mewada is silent on why his
office has not reported the matter to the administration.
Gandhinagar's
cupboards are full of such skeletons. Its population has grown to almost
two lakh but it doesn't have a municipal body even though the Constitution
has made it mandatory for any town or city to have one. The reason for
this anomaly is simple: vested interests do not want Gandhinagar to have
a civic body since the residents-mainly politicians and bureaucrats-would
then have to pay property tax and octroi.
Secondly,
every new government showers a largesse of land with an eye on its vote
bank. This has led to a situation where all kinds of dubious organisations
and societies have been able to get land allotted to them in the city.
If a municipal body is set up, politicians will not be able to manipulate
land allotments.
But so long
as lawmakers resist change, Gandhinagar will continue its descent into
urban chaos.
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