Ex Punjab Governor Rodrigues role in land scam, CBI to probe

Ex Punjab Governor Rodrigues role in land scam, CBI to probe

Chandigarh: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday registered two separate preliminary enquiries into former Punjab governor and former Indian Army chief General SF Rodrigues' involvement in a land scam.As stated by CNN-IBN

CBI took up the matter responding to an expose done by CNN-IBN in October 2009 that showed how the governor was unjustly awarding mega projects to a few builders.

The 2 main projects being investigated with the Anti corruption branch belonging to the CBI are the Theme-cum-Amusement Park as well as the Film City Project.

An enquiry occured by the Central Vigilance Commission in December 2008 that had brought the irregularities to light.

The Theme-cum-Amusement Park was conceptualized using a 73.65 acre land in Sarang-purand village and awarded to Unitech Ltd through the Chandigarh administration without approvals, while the Film City Project on an adjacent plot was awarded to Parasavnath Developers at an abysmally low cost.

A Home Ministry internal audit reports added fuel to the fire saying there have been several other cases of land allotment to top builders at abysmally low prices.

Both the Congress and BJP were demanding action in the cases.

CNN-IBN has details belonging to the internal audit report belonging to the Home Ministry that opened a can of worms.

Based on the report land for five-star hotel was given to a builder who didn't even deposit the earnest money

The Home Ministry report also questioned why a steep reduction of fees was presented with for campus sites of IT companies inside an IT Park.

The allotments created for IT companies are instead being used for retail business, car manufacturers and life insurance companies.

Among the country's top builders, headquartered in Delhi, was given land at a throwaway price within the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park

The sum of loss incurred by the Chandigarh administration as a result of reduced prices is over Rs 150 crore

The Home Ministry audit report even questioned the land acquisition in the Phase 3 of the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park.

Based on the report land was allotted to a company in the Special Economic Zone although the company had not applied for it.

Land was allotted to yet another company that did not even deposit processing fees for application

No IT professionals were allotted flat in the IT habitat project called Pride Asia.

Originally, only 10 per cent of these flats were reserved for IT professionals

A month after CNN-IBN reported the scam in October 2009, the government scrapped the deals. All deals worth about Rs 3,000 to 4,000 crore came under the CBI scanner after the scam.