CHIEF MINISTER Mulayam Singh Yadav suspended 14 LDA officials, including two PCS officers of joint secretary level on Tuesday for their involvement in a land scam running into crores of rupees in LDA’s Jankipuram housing scheme on Sitapur Road.
Secretary Higher Education Rajiv Kumar has been asked by the CM to conduct an inquiry into the scam and submit his report within a week. On January 25, HT Lucknow Live carried a detailed report on how 123 plots, including those carved out on the green belt and park-land, were sold fraudulently by LDA officers in connivance with land sharks between 1997 and 1999 causing loss of crores of rupees to the department.
Former LDA joint secretaries, who have been suspended include secretary of the Allahabad Development Authority RN Singh, SB Bharti deputy municipal commissioner, Aligarh and PCS officers Misrilal Paswan CDO Pratapgarh and Sree Pal Verma executive director, Karamchari Kalyan Nigam. Others suspended included under secretary, RP Singh, property officer Ram Pyare Singh (already under suspension), assistant property officer Babu Ram and seven other clerical staff. The scam came to light when some people approached the LDA officials for mutation of some residential plots in Jankipuram scheme in Lucknow on the basis of registry papers, the sources said.
On the other hand, LDA Vice Chairman BB Singh has given a last chance to the plot owners to deposit the money they owed to the department to avoid facing legal action as well as cancellation of their respective plots. This, however, would not apply to 18 plots that have been carved out from land earmarked for green belt and park. They include eight 600 square metre plots (1/330-A to 1/330-H) in Sector G that were shaped on green belt land, four plots in sector F (1/191-A to 1/194-A) and six plots again in Sector G from 1/569 to 1/574 that were made out on land reserved for Vatika Park. “We may give them plots an alternative location if they approach us,” the VC said.
{{/usCountry}}On the other hand, LDA Vice Chairman BB Singh has given a last chance to the plot owners to deposit the money they owed to the department to avoid facing legal action as well as cancellation of their respective plots. This, however, would not apply to 18 plots that have been carved out from land earmarked for green belt and park. They include eight 600 square metre plots (1/330-A to 1/330-H) in Sector G that were shaped on green belt land, four plots in sector F (1/191-A to 1/194-A) and six plots again in Sector G from 1/569 to 1/574 that were made out on land reserved for Vatika Park. “We may give them plots an alternative location if they approach us,” the VC said.
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