In his zeal to put the state on the fast track of development, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced at the recently concluded Global Investors Summit at Khajuraho that he would personally monitor the outcome of MoUs inked for investment at the summit but a close appraisal of the government’s much hyped initiative has revealed major chinks reflecting attempts by the state authorities to by-pass statutory requirements only to benefit the chosen ones.
It has been revealed, following investigations by this correspondent, that some of those holding positions of authority in the higher echelons of the bureaucracy and the political executive have been exerting pressure to rush through with the process of implementing an MoU for building a digital city in Gwalior. The investor in question is seeking allotment of 1,000 acres of the total 3,000 acres of the Gwalior Special Area Development Authority (SADA) land at concessional rates. The matter is hanging fire since the proposal to allot land at concessional rates was turned down at the government’s cutting edge level much to the discomfiture of some top state authorities.
It is learnt that after much red-tapism the official price for 1,000 acres of land was communicated as `138.60 crores to the potential investor, who has instead expressed the willingness to shell out `100 crores for the land needed for the digital city venture.
When a Gwalior SADA official was contacted, he said that it is a sheer case of impropriety on the part of those who are trying to parcel out a major part of land available with SADA to a private investor at a heavily discounted price.
He said, “Allotment of land at concessional rates for non-industrial purpose would automatically invoke the anti-corruption law.”