PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Pradesh Congress Committee president Ganesh Godiyal has accused the Uttarakhand’s BJP government of supporting the land mafia by misappropriating the precious land across the State at throwaway prices. He was interacting with the media here on Saturday along with the members of the Chargesheet committee of the party.
The chairman of the Chargesheet committee, Karan Mahara claimed that the State government is using the Uttarakhand Investment and Infrastructure Development Board (UIIDB) as a tool for effecting land scams. He said chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is the chairman of the UIIDB which has identified about 7,000 Bighas of vacant or underutilized government land belonging to the Horticulture and other departments ostensibly to create a land bank. Mahara claimed that the board has now started the process of handing over this precious land to private players on lease up to 90 years. Furthermore, the government has also given permission to sub-lease the leased land and to borrow heavily from banks against the leased land as collateral.
Mahara added that in order to benefit outsiders and large corporate houses, the government has added provisions such a minimum annual turnover of Rs 500 crore (for the last three years) and a minimum net worth of Rs 60 crore. “ When the land purchase limit for ordinary citizens is 250 square meters, under what ethical circumstances is the government offering 7,000 bighas of government land to select corporations for 90 years,’’ he asked.
The leader of the opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Yashpal Arya said that the UIIDB has been created as part of a conspiracy to sell the State’s precious lands to corporate houses at throw away prices.
He claimed that the government took a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop a tourism-related project at the George Everest Estate. Subsequently, approximately 142 acres of land and the developed facilities were leased to a private company for 15 years at a rate of only Rs one crore per annum.
Chargesheet Committee member Manoj Rawat informed the media about the cancellation of the land allotment for a major hospital without the Health Department’s knowledge and the questionable background and financial irregularities of the companies involved in the process. He also produced some documents claiming that a large tract of land measuring approximately 23,137 square meters was earmarked for the construction of health infrastructure and the hospital. He said that the land allotment was abruptly cancelled on February 25, 2025, without any prior notice or knowledge of the Health Department.
