Pawar gets graft stain, but IAC at receiving end
19 Oct 2012 8:38 AM IST
On Thursday, it was the turn of the agricultural minister Sharad Pawar to face the music against graft when a former IPS officer from his home state accused him of making money illegally in a housing project. Interestingly, the India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal also came in the line of fire for going soft on Pawar.
The charges came at a press conference by the former cop-turned-lawyer and activist Y P Singh, who had called it to accuse the agricultural minister Sharad Pawar for involvement in the 'Lavasa scam'. Singh said that Kejriwal downplayed the corruption charges against Pawar when he chose to expose corruption in Maharashtra.
Singh also said that other members of the Pawar family, including his nephew Ajit and the daughter Supriya Sule, were involved in the scam. A former IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, Singh had earlier worked in tandem with Kejriwal.
Addressing the media persons, Singh alleged that Ajit Pawar, the former irrigation minister of Maharashtra, allotted 141 hectares [348 acres] of land on a renewable lease of 30 years to the Lake City Corporation in 2002, violating a Supreme Court judgement. The company, which later came to be known as Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company, was allotted the land at a monthly rent of Rs 23,000, Singh said.
Sule and her husband Sadanand Sule, according to documents released by Singh, held 20.81 per cent shares in the company. He alleged that they made huge profit by selling these shares. Singh said he would file a complaint with the state anti-corruption bureau with details of the scam in the first week of November.
Pawar sought to dismiss Singh's charges. The NCP chief claimed that some 300 acres of land were given to the project in his home district of Pune as part of the hill station policy of Maharashtra. 'The state government has the authority to give the land as per the hill station policy. Eighty per cent of the 300 acres land are submerged in water and there has been no construction. It has been done as per the policy and there are no two opinions about it,' he told reporters.
The charges came at a press conference by the former cop-turned-lawyer and activist Y P Singh, who had called it to accuse the agricultural minister Sharad Pawar for involvement in the 'Lavasa scam'. Singh said that Kejriwal downplayed the corruption charges against Pawar when he chose to expose corruption in Maharashtra.
Singh also said that other members of the Pawar family, including his nephew Ajit and the daughter Supriya Sule, were involved in the scam. A former IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, Singh had earlier worked in tandem with Kejriwal.
Addressing the media persons, Singh alleged that Ajit Pawar, the former irrigation minister of Maharashtra, allotted 141 hectares [348 acres] of land on a renewable lease of 30 years to the Lake City Corporation in 2002, violating a Supreme Court judgement. The company, which later came to be known as Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company, was allotted the land at a monthly rent of Rs 23,000, Singh said.
Sule and her husband Sadanand Sule, according to documents released by Singh, held 20.81 per cent shares in the company. He alleged that they made huge profit by selling these shares. Singh said he would file a complaint with the state anti-corruption bureau with details of the scam in the first week of November.
Pawar sought to dismiss Singh's charges. The NCP chief claimed that some 300 acres of land were given to the project in his home district of Pune as part of the hill station policy of Maharashtra. 'The state government has the authority to give the land as per the hill station policy. Eighty per cent of the 300 acres land are submerged in water and there has been no construction. It has been done as per the policy and there are no two opinions about it,' he told reporters.
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