PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Terming the George Everest Estate scam as the biggest scam of Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand Congress has demanded that a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe monitored by a sitting judge of the High Court should be ordered in the case.
Interacting with the media persons at the State headquarters of the Congress party on Saturday, the Pradesh Congress Committee vice president Suryakant Dhasmana said that the tender process adopted in the allotment of the 142 acres of prime land near Mussoorie is completely wrong.
He said that the prime land was transferred to a company owned by Acharya Balkrishna, the close aide of Swami Ramdev, on a lease of 15 years at only Rs one crore per year. The lease can be further renewed for a period of 15 years. He said that interestingly all three companies which participated in the tender process were owned by Balkrishna which is a clear violation of the tender conditions.
Dhasmana said that at a time when the youth of the State is agitated on the demand for an effective land law the State government on the insistence of the Union government is transferring lands in the mountainous areas to outsiders on long term leases at throwaway prices.
He said that the Congress party will start a state-wide public agitation in support of the demand of a CBI investigation in the George Everest Estate scam which is the mother of all scams in the State.
Informing about the plan of the agitation, Dhasmana said that in the first phase the party will burn effigy of the government at all district headquarters. He said that the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara and leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha Yashpal Arya will soon meet the governor on the issue and submit a memorandum. In the second phase the party will launch a state-wide agitation.
He further informed that the Congress party will launch a country wide signature campaign against theft of votes from September 15. This campaign will be carried out in all the 70 Assembly constituencies of the State.
