Mumbai:
Political discomfiture grows for the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra, as the 2012 Comptroller's and Auditor General's (CAG) Report implicates Union Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh and Maharashtra Cabinet Ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Patangrao Kadam and Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil for getting government land on the cheap for trusts linked to themselves or their relatives. A version of this report had earlier been leaked by the Opposition BJP 10 days ago. Now, the main content of the leak has been confirmed as the CAG report is tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly.
According to the report, a copy of which NDTV possesses, Vilasrao Deshmukh, as Chief Minister in 2005, allotted a 23,840 square metre plot of land in Mumbai to a trust held by his family: The Manjra Charitable Trust. The market value of the land was worth Rs. 30 crore, but it was allotted at one-fifth the price, Rs. 6.56 crore. And while the land was given for a dental college, and the construction should have begun within two years as per the law, nothing has been built on the plot until four years after, indicating motivations for a land grab. "The CAG cannot hold anyone responsible because that is their finding, but it actually has to be properly looked into by the PAC. The basic issue is whether there is any loss to the exchequer," Mr Deshmukh told NDTV in a phone conversation from London.
Also facing the heat is NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who is the PWD and Tourism Minister of Maharashtra. His family's trust, which owns the MET Institute, was allotted two massive plots of land in Nashik, one in 2003 and another in 2009. The second plot was allotted at a hugely-discounted rate despite objections from the Finance Secretary himself, who had contended that the institute has already received one government plot. Mr Bhujbal's nephew, Sameer, is a trustee of the institution. When NDTV spoke to him he said, "Even if the Finance Secretary objected, if it's according to the policy it is cleared."
The other top name is Cabinet Minister Narayan Rane. A trust he patronises, the Sindhudurg Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, got a plot in the Konkan region for a community centre. What came up instead was a banquet hall rented out for two lakhs a day.
Sugar baron Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil holds the Agriculture portfolio. His foundation in Pune received land at a discount of nearly 74 lakhs. While the land was allotted for secondary education, part of it was re-allotted to a degree college, for which the land rate should have been recalculated, but never was.
And then there is education baron Patangrao Kadam, whose college chain was given land worth almost five crores in 2004, land that again lies unused against rules.
As the government refused to circulate the report in the Assembly, saying that Marathi and English translations do not match, the Opposition furore forced the House to adjourn for the day. Meanwhile, a Crime Branch inquiry has been ordered into how the report leaked.
While the CAG report findings embarrass the scam-embattled Congress, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan seems to be in a position of unique advantage. The CAG report has quelled a dissident faction in the party, as two of his rivals, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Narayan Rane, are named in the report.