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Chavan favoured kin, friends in allotting Bandra plot: BJP
The BJP has now raked up a six-year-old land allotment case to target chief minister Ashok Chavan.
The BJP has now raked up a six-year-old land allotment case to target chief minister Ashok Chavan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that chief minister Ashok Chavan has helped his kin, friends, personal staff and senior bureaucrats in getting a government plot in Bandra, which had been reserved for the judiciary and recreation. The allotment took place in 2004.
The 1,389 square meters plot was allotted to the 27-member Renuka Coperative Housing Society at a concession rate of Rs 20,500 per sq m (total cost Rs 99.20 lakh). Chavan’s close aide and Congress legislator from Nanded, DP Sawant, is the society’s chief promoter.
The state BJP general secretary Vinod Tawade made these allegations at a media conference on Thursday evening.
Tawade said Chavan’s brother-in-law, IAS secretary Nitin Kareer, his personal assistants, ex-union home minister Shivraj Patil’s son, Shailesh and ex-principal secretary (urban development) Ramanand Tiwari, whose son has got a flat at Colaba’s controversial Adarsh society, are members of the housing society.
Chavan could not be contacted as he was in Nanded. Tiwari said he was not member of any housing society in the city and declined to comment further. Kareer said he was a member and dismissed the charges. Based on documents he made available to media, Tawade said that Chavan helped the society when he was revenue minister in Vilasrao Deshmukh’s cabinet. He alleged that the reservation of the plot was changed to benefit Renuka society.
The society was also allowed to use transferred development rights (TDR) admeasuring 100% of the plot area so that it can grow taller and accommodate all members.
“But when the Bombay High Court objected to alterations, the government allotted 5,000 sq m for the judicial officers’ Nyay Sagar society,” said Tawade demanding a high-level probe in the scam.
Society’s promoter DP Sawant was not available for comment.
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