Aam Aadmi Party accused the Pramod Sawant Govt of failure to protect public land and not acting in good faith to punish those involved in what appears to be a massive land scam.
Explaining the chronology of the past 13 years, spokesperson Valmiki Naik provided details of how a parcel of prime land in Donapaula originally acquired by the Govt for public purpose, had found its way into hands of private parties.
Naik said that one private citizen had to approach the High Court to prevent encroachments in the Govt land, and it was only after the High Court ordered the Deputy Collector to demarcate the land that the process was initiated. He added that after years of dragging the matter, the Deputy Collector had, by an order passed in July 2018, found that an area as large as 1,30,413 square meters of acquired land was *found missing*, and allowed the application moved by the PWD to get the land demarcated through the Director of Land Survey and Settlement.
State Convenor Elvis Gomes alleged a complete collusion of the Govt with the private parties to pass off Govt land as private land, in utter disregard to orders passed by its own authorities. Gomes said that despite Dy. Collector’s order and the subsequent dismissal of appeal of the aggrieved private parties by the Administrative Tribunal, the Govt was not showing any inclination to protect its own land.
Pointing out that the scam was in progress since 2007, Gomes stated both BJP or Congress Govts have been in power, yet neither took any action as both were one and the same, i.e. Congress Janata Party.
AAP leader Mario Cordeiro alleged that this is just one case that came to light due to alert citizens in the neighbourhood. Cordeiro demanded a proper investigation to ascertain how many more such parcels of land had “gone missing” from the Govt inventory.
Gomes said that by today’s rates, the land would be valued at approximately 450 crores, and threatened to approach the Lok Ayukta if the Govt fails to act in the matter.
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