Congress accuses Maharashtra CM Fadnavis of Rs 18,000 crore land scam

Maharashtra Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and top notch developers from Mumbai are involved into a Rs 18,000 crore land scam in the proposed metro car shed development at Aarey colony at Goregaon, alleged Sanjay Nirupam, president of Mumbai congress on Tuesday.

Nirupam claimed that as per the normal standard, any metro depot development requires maximum 18 hectares of land. "Maharashtra government has proposed to acquire 30 hectares of land at Aarey colony. So out of 30 hectares, maximum 18 acres land will be used for metro car shed while the rest will be handed over to builders. And, with the floor space index (FSI), it will be almost Rs 18,000 crore worth of land scam. Builders will be gain from this scam. It also shows that the Maharashtra government is hands-in-glove with the builders to usher Aarey land," Nirupam said.

Nirupam exposed the government claims of getting all necessary permissions for the proposed metro car shed. "The Bombay High Court has also not given permission to develop this depot. We are not against metro development, but, at the same time, city's green cover also has to be protected. We need to maintain the ecological balance. There are other locations within city limits for this metro car shed, then why does the government not utilise those? Why are they eyeing Aarey colony?" Nirupam said.

He also said that the government is misguiding people by giving the false information through newspaper advertisements. "It is saying that the land is legally viable and it will not disturb the ecology. However, we have obtained the various government reports and papers under right to information act which show that govt is clearly encroaching on Aarey land. It also violating the various set of rules and guidelines. We will not allow them to make it happen. We also appeal people to join us in this fight against to save the Aarey colony," Nirupam said.

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO), however, refuted all allegations. The clarification issued by the CMO said that it has no plant to use the proposed metro car shed land for commercial purpose.

"We are going to use the entire 30 hectares for the metro car shed. Out of total 30 hectares, 21 will be used for metro car shed, 4 for approach line and station, while remaining 5 will be kept as the green patch. Former CM Prithviraj Chavan had approved this Aarey colony area for the metro car shed on March 31, 2014. This land any how will not be used for the commercial purpose so the using 4 FSI charges are baseless. Mumbai metro phase 3 is 33.5 km, therefore it will required at least 30 hectares of land to accommodate various metro activities," the clarification note stated.