Koyna dam land deals by past regime will also be probed: CM Devendra Fadnavis

Announcing judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities in allotment and sale of over 9 hectares of land to people affected by the Koyna dam project in Navi Mumbai, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said in the state assembly that 200 land allotment cases involving 606 hectare worth Rs 50,000 crore, made during the tenure of the previous Congress-NCP government would also be included in the inquiry.

The Chief Minister also announced that the government would prepare a comprehensive policy for land allotment to project-affected people (PAP) and prepare standard operating procedures.

Bringing an adjournment motion in the assembly after alleging that land worth Rs 2,000 crore was sold for Rs 3.5 crore to a builder., Opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil on Thursday demanded the Chief Minister's resignation. Former CM Prithviraj Chavan said that Fadnavis should clarify the grey areas in the deal.

Refuting the Opposition's allegations, Fadnavis said the land in question was owned by the state government and not CIDCO, which is the planning authority. He said the land is with the collector for the last 50 years, and that during the Congress-NCP rule, 606 hectare was allotted by the additional collector to the dam-affected people, who have sold it to some or the other builder.

Fadnavis said that none of the files on the case came to Mantralaya or the revenue minister or the CM for clearance, since the previous government had given the authority of allotting the land to the district collector. He said all the plots sold during the previous regime's tenure are near the airport and their cost comes to Rs 50,000 crore.

He said providing schedule I lands to PAP as well as giving them the right to sell the land also happened during the previous regime. There are 200 such cases and all these would also be inquired in to through judicial inquiry, he said.

Clarifying that the said land is not owned by CIDCO, Fadnavis said that "this 9 hectare and 82R land is agricultural land" and its valuation as per the ready reckoner is Rs 5.30 crore. If at all the builder who purchased it wants to convert the land use, Fadnavis said, "He would have to pay conversion charges of Rs 233 crore and it would not be easy to do that since the development plan would have to be changed."