Cidco land acquired for sports complex by unfair means?

Cidco land for developing a Sports Complex

Allegations of using unfair means to acquire Cidco land for developing a sports complex in Ulwe were made by Peasants and Workers party (PWP) leader Vivek Patil against BJP Panvel MLA Prashant Thakur soon after the assembly election results were declared.

Patil, while addressing a party workers’ meeting at Panvel, alleged that the Thakur family used unfair means to acquire Cidco land for developing a sports complex in Ulwe and develop a parking lot at Kalamboli steelyard. “Our party is planning to file a PIL after vacation. We will pray for an impartial probe into the land allotment to the trusts controlled by the Thakur s,” said Patil.

PWP, which controlled the Raigad district for the last five decades, has lost Panvel and Uran constituencies to BJP and Shiv Sena respectively in the recent assembly election. Ramseth Thakur and his son Prashant Thakur left PWP to join Congress in 2004. Prashant joined BJP just prior to the assembly polls this year.

Former MP Ramseth Thakur said, “We were never involved in any kind of illegal deals. All allotments have been made according to rules and regulations framed by the government. After the poll debacle, PWP is trying to tarnish our image by resorting to malicious campaigns.”

Patil alleged that after winning the assembly election in 2009, Prashant Thakur secured 6.7 hectare land for a trust, Ramseth Thakur Samajik Vikas Mandal, which was allegedly floated by Thakur family, to construct a sports complex. “The Comptroller and Auditor General of India indicted Cidco for violating rules while allotting the land to the trust, ” alleged Patil. He added that the CAG report also observed irregularities in the allotment of a parking lot on a 6.4 hectare land at Kalamboli Steelyard for 20 years to Thakur Infra-Projects Pvt Ltd in March 2009. Prashant said that PWP is floating these “bogus campaigns to gain political mileage”.