Mumbai:
Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, has shifted the blame for the Adarsh Society controversy on Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, saying he only played a peripheral role, but the building did get massive sops during Deshmukh's tenure as Chief Minister in Maharashtra.
NDTV has exclusive documents signed by Deshmukh which reveal that he played a direct role in granting these sops worth crores to the controversial building. These clearances during his chief minister-ship allowed the society to build 32 more flats. At the time, he controlled both the crucial portfolios of revenue and urban development.
The revelations are all the more damaging because sources say Deshmukh's associates were allotted three flats in the building - charges he has denied.
The document, which has Deshmukh's signature on it shows he used his discretionary powers to grant 2669 square metres of additional building rights to Adarsh society.
He also allowed 700 square metres in the building to be used for commercial purposes.
The document also shows Deshmukh cleared a change in land use for the area from 'bus depot' to 'residential'.
These clearances cannot be granted without the Chief Minister's go ahead.
What is even stranger, according to land rules, the reservation has to be changed before building rights are granted. Here the order was reversed. Also, the BEST undertaking which controls bus services initially resisted handing over its land, but later suddenly gave in.
Adarsh society has been built on a plot adjacent to a bus depot. Building rights from this bus depot were transferred to the society. Initially BEST had objected to this transfer.
Deshmukh did not respond to NDTV's attempts to contact him, but clearly he has lot of explaining to do on his role in the racket. All the more because these sops were granted on Coastal Regulation Zone land, without the mandatory clearance from the union environment ministry.