Bhopal: The Kushabhau Thakre Trust will seek land again from the state government. The allotment of land to the trust was cancelled by the Supreme Court in 2011. The trust plans to build a national political training institute on the land. The decision to demand land from the government again was taken at a meeting of the trust at the residence of former chief minister Kailash Joshi on Tuesday. BJP national organisational general secretary Ramlal and MP Prabhat Jha were also present at the meeting.
Thirty acres of prime land was allotted at a concessional rate to the trust by the BJP government of the state headed by Uma Bharati in the year 2004. In 2011, the Supreme Court quashed the allotment on a petition filed by a consumers’ body. Besides quashing the allotment, the SC had also put aside the state government’s policy of allotting land to social organisations and had asked it to draft it a new policy. Now, the government has laid down a new policy under which before allotting land to any social organisation, the collector of the district concerned will be required to publish a public advertisement to determine whether some other social organisation wants land for the same or similar purposes.
The trust was reconstituted at the meeting. Joshi was named its new chairman and Jha, secretary. The members include state BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chouhan, state oraganisational general secretary Suhas Bhagat, MP Alok Sanjar and MLAs Hemant Khandelwal and Sampatiyya Uike. Jha has replaced Union minister Venkaih Naidu as the trust’s president. The trust, presently, has a fund of Rs one crore. The members will collect donations from all over the state to raise more money, which will be spent on buying land and construction work. The trust will also organise activities like blood donation camps on Thakre’s birth anniversary. The trust was lying dormant for quite some time. It was decided to activate it. Ramlal said that meetings of the trust will held periodically.
