The state government has re-acquired over 900 acres of land, worth crores, in Daund taluka, Pune district alone, which was distributed to various people shown as project-affected persons (PAP).
The state government has re-acquired over 900 acres of land, worth crores, in Daund taluka, Pune district alone, which was distributed to various people shown as project-affected persons (PAP). This was disclosed by minister of state (MoS) for water resources, Vijay Shivtare, who alleged that NCP-Congress leaders might be involved in this land scam with government officials and villagers involved as well.
Mr Shivtare said relief and rehabilitation minister Eknath Khadse has advised tha first information report be filed against such fake PAPs.
The minister said that during previous Congress-NCP government, a lot of land was allotted for rehabilitation of the families whose land was acquired for irrigation projects. “In a review of such project-affected people’s rehabilitation issues, it came to our notice that most of PAPs are either fake or had purchased the allotted land from original PAPs. We found 900 acres of land was grabbed by such PAPs in Daund taluka of Pune district. The Daund taluka is speedily developing and the valuation of the land is in crores,” he said. The minister said the scam had been going on for the past 8-10 years.
Expressing inability to furnish project-wise land that was acquired by the fake beneficiaries in Pune district, Mr Shivtare said, “We have decided to re-acquire such land and already acquired 900-acre land from Daund taluka during last year. This may be the tip of the iceberg, we will find out similar cases across the state,” he said.
Mr Shivtare said he himself studied a few cases of land allotment for the PAPs in Daund taluka for various projects. “There are many cases, in which we found out that pieces of land has been given to people as compensation against giving away their fertile land for the government project. I had told officials to inquire into a few cases. It was later found that there have been bogus beneficiaries in many cases,” said Mr Shivtare.
Elaborating on the scam, Mr Shivtare said that in many cases the names of bogus beneficiaries have even been registered on the 7/12 extract while in a few cases bogus beneficiaries must have got a piece of land at minimal price.
“The same modus operandi might have been used in other districts too. So we will ask the department to inquire further whether the same nexus is working in other places and projects too,” he said.
He also said he had spoken with Mr Khadse about the fraud.
“He (Khadse) also advised me to file first information report against the fake false beneficiaries to bust the nexus of politician-government officers,” said Mr Shivtare.
