Mumbai : Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a high-level inquiry against the construction of Congress Bhavan on a suburban land in Mumbai which was allegedly allotted to Associated Journal Limited (AJL) in 1983 by the Congress-ruled state government. The probe in the land allotment case will be to know whether the plot was used for commercial activities.
Through multiple Right to Information (RTI) applications filed by activist Anil Galgani, it has been revealed that the plot where the Maharashtra unit of Congress is constructing the 11-storey party workplace was assigned three decades ago to AJL, which had mentioned that it would construct Nehru library and research centre.
“We will conduct an inquiry and if irregularity is observed, action will be taken in accordance with law,” Fadnavis said.
The BJP has alleged that AJL violated the lease agreement by constructing a “commercial structure,” while the plot was allotted to set up a library and a research centre.
The plot under contention is located in Bandra, which is one of the prime locations in the western suburb of Mumbai. It was allotted to AJL, the publishing company of English daily National Herald and its Urdu counterpart Quami Awaz.
However, the Congress, which owned AJL, did not utilise the plot for constructing either the Nehru library or the proposed research centre. Instead, the party is now constructing an 11-storey grand building which will have a minimum parking space of 135 cars. It also has 14 office spaces but there is no earmarking done for newspaper offices, library and research centre, reveals the copy of RTI as obtained by Anil Galgani.