Reacting sharply to the Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s allegation of the BJP MlAs requesting him to build the smart city over the tea estate, State BJP chief spokesperson Munna Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday that CM is misleading the people while flaunting innocence.
He said it was true that the BJP leaders had written a letter to CM in 2014, asking him to take initiatives to free the city from traffic congestion. “We are for smart city and we asked him to develop it somewhere outside the city by way of retrofitting. We never said that it should be built on the tea plantation. It is clear that the embattled CM is trying to shrug off his responsibility by putting the blame on BJP,” he said.
Chouhan reiterated that his party would not allow the State Government to get away with the land scam. “Taking advantage of the smart city project, they have cleared the land dispute involving the tea estate that was as old as 40 years. The area is spread over1100 acres and it is worth around Rs 3000 crore at current market price. All the successive governments tried to vacate the land from the occupation of Doon Tea Company (DTC). However, during this regime, SDM court has given its ruling in favour of DTC and against the State Government. In this scenario, the incumbent DM sought permission from the State government to take the ruling to Garhwal commissioner’s court, but the State Government instructed him to be idle. Even they did not bother to challenge SDM court’s ruling in High court or Supreme Court,” Chouhan said.
“Things are intriguing as the State government fought a case in the High Court against a person who had a shop in MCD-owned land illegally. Similarly, the State government took to the High Court a case of a Gram Pradhan who had allegedly embezzled `29,000. But strangely enough, the same pro-active government decided to keep a low profile regarding the DTC case,” he said.
The BJP leader further said that the State government had lost the case against DTC on October 19 and they purchased the land by paying DTC Rs 500 crore for the construction of smart city. “We would continue to protest against the smart city deal unless and until the State Government brings the land under its ownership. They should be active to have the ruling vacated,” Chouhan said.
Referring to CM’s allegation on mining lease, he said when the BJP legislature Party (BlP) had brought adjournment motion in the House on March 17 against illegal mining CM Rawat had threatened them to spill the beans, landing BJP in trouble. “BJP MlAs had dared CM to take stringent action against the accused whoever they are. We are challenging him again to initiate action against those involved in the menace, irrespective of their political affiliation. We want him to name them,” Chouhan said.
However, in the same breath, he said that CM should stop being verbose on the issue if it is mere blackmailing he is indulging in. “Saying that you are more corrupt then me would not absolve him of the wrongdoing,” the State BJP spokesperson said.