Adarsh II was in the pipeline in Colaba

In 2008, the 31-storey Adarsh building that was coming up in Colaba inspired a request letter to the state revenue department seeking allotment of the land adjacent to Adarsh.

The plan was to build another residential tower for serving officers and ex-servicemen. But now, with the scam-tainted Adarsh facing demolition, this proposal has been hastily withdrawn.

Rakshak Co-operative Housing Society, floated by retired vice chief of the Army Staff, Lt Gen Moti Dar, has now dropped its plans to construct a residential tower next to Adarsh.

But anxious to protect his reputation in the aftermath of the Adarsh scam, Dar, after being contacted by DNA, has sought to distance himself from the Society by claiming he has “nothing whatsoever to do with Rakshak or any other society.”

Dar had in 2008 sought an allotment for a plot after some military officers (he won’t name them), inspired by the ongoing construction of Adarsh, approached him to develop a housing society for officers and jawans.

“I agreed, and checked with the collector, who confirmed that the land belonged to the government. As the land was near the Colaba military station, I sought an NOC from the army authorities,’’ said Dar.

Pending the NOC from army, Dar then sent a request to the revenue minister for allotment of land. “Even as I had begun doubting the title ownership, I received a call from some official asking me to meet the revenue minister. This was in Jan 2009. But I informed him that I was not going ahead with the allotment,” said Dar.

“My association with Rakshak Society was just for two months, from November 2008 to January 2009. Since then I have not enlisted any members nor met with any officials on this issue,” Dar pointed out.

But strangely enough, given that a building proposal lying ‘alive’ with the revenue department can be activated at any time, Dar waited till this correspondent contacted him, to act. 

It was only last Thursday that Dar sent a fresh communique to the Southern Area Commander and General Officer Commanding (GOC), in-charge of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, stating said that he had dropped the plans for a residential tower way back in January 2009, when he failed to get a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for it.

On being asked why he waited till now to ‘save his reputation, Dar said, “I didn’t think it was an issue.”

Despite Dar clearing the air, military officials are worried. “The main concern is a survey map of Block Six of Backbay Reclamation, which includes a big portion of the Colaba Military station.

This map was attached to the vice chief’s letter. The survey had been carried out by Team One Architects, the same architect used by Adarsh Society. Such a survey could not have been carried out in one day. We want to know who granted permission to the architect to carry out a survey in a defence locality. It is a clear case of breach of security,” said a senior military officer.

The presence of the map has officials speculating on the Society’s close links with Adarsh. Curiously, Dar is the president India-Pakistan Soldiers Initiative for Peace, an organisation set up by retired senior Army officials from both countries, and Major General T K Kaul (rtd) who allegedly played a key role in allotting defence land to Adarsh when he was GOC of MGG area, is its vice president.

Dar, for his part, rubbished such speculation. “The map is floating around everywhere. Even the collector had a copy of the map. But one of the officers involved in the proposed society may have got the map from some Adarsh members,’” admitted Dar, adding that he met Kaul only in 2008 during a peace initiative meeting.