Ashish Shelar welcomes demolition of Adarsh

BJP chief Ashish Shelar on Saturday welcomed the high court’s decision to demolish the infamous Adarsh building and said that the state should file an FIR in the case. Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, however, said that demolishing the building is not the solution to the issue.

While the high court on Friday ordered a re-inquiry into the case, Mr Shelar said that the government should put in its best effort into the case as the previous regime had attempted to cover-up the issue. “During the previous Congress-NCP regime, the then governor had denied permission to the CBI to prosecute the chief minister (Ashok Chavan) in the case,” said Mr Shelar.

He also said that the investigation must look into the other politicians involved in the matter. “The ramifications of the case which involves cheating are wide. The role of politicians who helped their relatives obtain flats in the Adarsh society needs to be probed,” Mr Shelar added.

On the other hand, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam has said that demolishing the building is not a constructive solution. “Until now, the government itself has no clear documents to prove ownership of the land. No one knows who owns the 7/12 of the land so their case is weak. Instead we should look at how we can actually give the place to those widows who were supposed to get the property in the first place,” said Mr Nirupam.

Talking about the violations of CRZ, Mr Nirupam said that there are over 700 buildings in the city, which have violated the same laws, “If the CRZ is the sole basis on which the demolition has been ordered then we should recall that over 700 buildings in prime Mumbai are in violation of the same law,” he said.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut too has said that demolishing the building is not a proper solution to the problem. He said, “Instead of demolition the building can be use to house important government offices.”

Details of the scam The land in which the 31-storey of the Adarsh Housing Society was built is situated in one of the most expensive areas in the city-Colaba. It was originally meant for widows from the Kargil-war and other defence personnel. But politicians, bureaucrats and other high-ranking defence officers took advantage of their influence and bought flats for themselves and their relatives from the building. The scam was discovered in 2010 and led to the resignation of the then chief minister Ashok Chavan.