Bureaucrat behind move to parcel out huge land in Gwalior at a throwaway price to a crony capitalist

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Lalit Shastri

In his zeal to put the State on the fast track of development, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced at the Global Investors Summit at Khajuraho in October 2010 that he would personally monitor the outcome of MoUs inked for investment at these summits but a close appraisal of the Government's much hyped initiative has revealed major chinks reflecting attempts by the State authorities to by-pass statutory requirements only to benefit the chosen ones.

On the sidelines of the Khajuraho Investors' Summit, one saw Iqbal Singh Bains, a senior bureaucrat, in a private discussion with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Incidentally,  their tête-à-tête was in earshot and the CM was fully in agreement and gave the approving nod for the blatant move to parcel out the Gwalior SADA land to a private party at a throwaway price. Bains is considered a blue eyed boy of the Chief Minister.

Follow up investigation revealed that Bains with the backing of the top political executive was exerting pressure to rush through with the process of implementing the MoU for building a digital city in Gwalior. The investor in question (someone from Chandigarh) is seeking allotment of 1000 acres of the total 3000 acres of the Gwalior Special Area Development Authority (SADA) land at concessional rates. The matter is hanging fire since the proposal to allot land at concessional rates was turned down at the government's cutting edge level much to the discomfiture of the powerful State authorities.

It is learnt that after much red-tapism, the official price for 1000 acres of land was communicated as Rs. 138.60 crore to the potential investor, who has instead expressed the willingness to shell out Rs. 100 crore for the land needed for the digital city venture.

When a Gwalior SADA official was contacted, he said that it was an open and shut case of impropriety on the part of those who were trying to parcel out a major part of land available with SADA to a private investor at a heavily discounted price. He said: "allotment of land at concessional rates for non-industrial purpose would automatically invoke the anti-corruption law." He even questioned the intention of those supporting the idea of allotting government land at concessional rates to a commercial real estate venture in the counter magnate city of Gwalior.

Efforts to follow up on few of the MoUs signed with investors have drawn a blank as no government officer is ready to share the operative part of these MoUs. Top bureaucrats heading the State Mining department preferred to dodge queries when asked about the MoUs signed at Khajuraho.


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