343-acre govt plot converted, sold to pvt players in Raigad

With months to go for the Assembly election, the Maharashtra government is staring at a possible land grab close to Mumbai in Raigad district. The Raigad district

With months to go for the Assembly election, the Maharashtra government is staring at a possible land grab close to Mumbai in Raigad district. The Raigad district collector’s office has reversed a land dealing in Div village after a 343-acre government plot was converted to a private plot with an aim to be sold to back to the government for an industries department project.

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According to Ulka Mahajan, convenor of Sarvahara Jan Andolan, who brought the issue to the notice of Raigad district administration, the government land was converted to a private plot in connivance with local officials and private players. An integrated industrial township project is set to come up at the village.

Under the state government’s integrated industrial township policy, 60% of land where the project comes up is used for industries and 40% can be used for residential and commercial purposes. Once the project kicks off, the state government would acquire land and could give up to four times the existing rate.

Mahajan alleged that the local district officials “expedited” the process of converting the land at the behest of private players. The issue came to the fore after local farmers, who farm on the said plot, approached Mahajan. “The plot is a government land that was converted to Khoti land and sold to individual tenants, and subsequently to a private player,” Mahajan said.

The plot was purchased for about ₹5 crore by the private players, Mahajan said. “The first order stating that the land is not government’s was issued on January 21, 2019. It stated that the plot is a Khoti land, which is a part of land law in Konkan. Within a month, on February 18, 2019, it was distributed to individual tenants.

According to the Tenancy Law, the process to hand over Khoti land to tenants involves many stages including survey, hearing, etc. But this was done under a month. The tenants, however, did not benefit from this deal. Immediately, it was transferred using power of attorney to the private players, who are the mastermind behind the whole scam,” she said.

The Raigad district collector’s office, meanwhile, has reversed the land dealings and ordered an inquiry against officials in Roha sub-divisional office.

“Prima facie it seems like the naib tehsildar used his powers to transfer land to Khot after some people approached him. The sub-divisional officer has taken a review and cancelled all those orders and the plot is again government land on the 7/12 extracts. We have also initiated an inquiry in the case,” said Vijay Suryavanshi, district collector, Raigad.