Land Mafia and Corporate Houses Impose Threat to Chandigarh Government Property

November 26, 2008	(Be the first to rate this story!)  Loading ...
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The Manimajra Farmers’ Welfare and Environment Protection Society, in association with the Society for Prevention of Crime and Corruption, organised a public interaction and fact evaluation meet on Monday to address the alleged corruption in the real estate dealings in the city. Residents of all age groups, including businessmen, farmers and social activists, had gathered to discuss the rampant corruption in the name of ‘development’ in Chandigarh. Addressing the interaction, the Citizen group presented a ‘Citizen’s Report” to highlight that the quantum of scams in real estate dealings amounted to crores of rupees in the city. The group said government properties like the ISBT in Sector 17, public parks and open spaces were under the threat of being sold to corporate houses, land mafia and builders.

The group appreciated the ‘courage’ and ‘conviction’ exhibited by UT advisor Pardip Mehra to stand up against Administrator General SF Rodrigues (Retd) and highlight corruption worth Rs 2,000 crore in the Medicity project. Social activist Hemant Goswami said officials of the Chandigarh Administration had initiated a slander campaign against Mehra. “There are clear CVC guidelines that no inquiry is to be initiated against any official on anonymous complaints, still an inquiry was initiated against the advisor. Surprisingly, the Chandigarh Administration acted in a selective manner. While scores of credible complaints against the Administrator and some other officials were ignored, action was initiated on the anonymous complaint against the senior most bureaucrat for a flimsy and false allegation of affixing tiles in his government house in Delhi.”

M N Sharma, the first Indian architect of Chandigarh, rued that the planned city was being destroyed due to the arbitrary decisions of Administrators and other executives. “In today’s time, it is the lust for money which seems to be making real estate a lucrative option for all corrupt officials. Most of the so-called land development activities in Chandigarh and projects like Medicity are mindless, ill-conceived and serve no public purpose,” he said. Later, village head of Sarangpur, Sadhu Singh, mentioned how farmers were displaced and their lands grabbed by the land mafia and the builders through the government for a paltry sum, which was actually less than one per cent of its market price. He rued that no official had ever met the affected farmers despite them paying regular visits to their office.

News Published Under:   Chandigarh |

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