Ahmedabad, April 26: Gujarat Congress today accused the state government of violating norms to facilitate sale of agriculture land by a private company and causing loss of Rs 40 crore to the state exchequer.
“In this land scam, Revenue Minister Anandiben Patel, a close confidant of Chief Minister, allowed a businessman to sell two lakh square meters of precious land in Kutch instead of the government taking possession of it,” Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil alleged in a press conference.
Gohil demanded that state government should constitute a commission of a siting judge of either the Supreme Court or High Court or a CBI probe into the dubious deal.
“In this case, Mumbai-based Indigold Refinery, was allotted two lakh square meters of land in Kutch. It was agricultural land and under law the businessman had to start production from the proposed unit within a stipulated period of three years failing which the government had to take possession of the land,” Gohil said.
“The Indigold Refinery did not start the project and decided to sell the plot of land to Alumina Refinery after six years. And taking side of Indigold, Revenue Minister threw all rules to wind and allowed the deal to be executed,” Gohil said.
The state exchequer has incurred a loss of Rs 40 crore due to the deal which had a sanction of the revenue minister, Gohil said.
“All government officers had objected to the deal but the minister overruling objections gave a go ahead to the deal,” he further alleged.
——–PTI