The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday accused a Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led municipal corporation of giving away 95 acre of land in North Delhi worth over Rs 15,000 crore for free to a builder at the time when local body does not have money to pay salaries to teachers and safai karamcharies.
Quoting a letter written by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) Commissioner, AAP leaders Dilip Pandey and Atishi Marlena alleged corruption in the land allocation and questioned the BJP and lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.
“The MCD says that it has no funds to pay salaries to teachers or ‘safai karamcharis’ and still it allowed 95 acres of its land to be transferred for the benefit of a private builder without asking any questions. Who is the beneficiary of this transfer,” Marlena questioned.
In a letter dated May 18, Renu K Jagdev, a 1989-batch Indian Revenue Service officer in the North corporation, said that the land at Khyber Pass in the Civil lines area, which as per the Delhi Government’s revenue records comes under the ownership of the civic body, has been “wrongly allotted” to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) by the land and Development Office. The land is being developed by a private builder.
Jagdev said that the matter was under continuous discussion with the l&DO since 2015. “But lately, I was being pressurised by the Commissioner ... to drop the matter so that the building plan of M/s Parsvnath can be sanctioned and their project continued.”
“The land in question is worth more than Rs 15,000 crore,” Jagdev added.
In the letter, Jagdev also said that all of a sudden, she received her repatriation orders dated May 17, relieving her with effect from May 18.
Pandey said, “Jagdev has been shunted out of her position by the l-G, who controls transfers and postings of all bureaucrats in Delhi.”
“This entire episode raises serious questions on the role of the BJP leadership, the l-G and senior bureaucrats who relinquished claim on land worth Rs 15,000 crore belonging to the MCD, leading to a windfall gain to a private builder,” he said.
Pandey said, “The Mayor of NMC has tried to intimidate us by filing defamation suits against us. But that does not deter us. We will continue to expose the BJP’s corruption.”