Builder Prepares to Build Flats on IT Park Land
The Sunday Mail
New Delhi. The Uttarakhand government is again under scrutiny for another land scam. A few days ago, a major land scam surfaced in Mussoorie. However, instead of taking action, reports are surfacing of attempts to suppress it. No action has yet been taken against Yoga Guru Balkrishna’s company. These land scams are causing significant losses to the people of Uttarakhand, as those for whose development plans were designed are being defrauded. The latest scam involves the SIDCUL IT Park. The state government has issued a notice to the journalist who exposed this scam. Congress state president Karan Mahara has questioned and attacked the Dhami government over this matter.
Mahra, in a post on his Instagram account, stated that Dehradun’s IT Park was once a dream destination for youth employment and technological opportunities. The park was created to enable the state’s youth to pursue a new future in the IT and software sectors. But now, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s government has destroyed the very spirit of the IT Park by converting it into a real estate project. Senior journalist Ajit Rathi’s revelations have revealed that the IT Park’s land has been handed over to a private company building flats, which will later sell them in the market for profit. This means that public land has been handed over to the builder lobby through “Public to Private Transfer.”
Most seriously, in a tender with a base rate of ₹40,000 per square meter, the bidding went down to only ₹46,000, and both plots were awarded to the same company, RCC Developer. This entire process not only appears suspicious but also hints at possible collusion. Furthermore, the company was allowed to deposit only 25% of the advance amount and pay the remaining amount in easy installments, as if the government itself had become a financial supporter of a private developer.
This decision shattered the dreams of thousands of young people in Uttarakhand. Where IT companies should have come, apartment projects will now be built. This decision not only goes against the “Skill & Employment Oriented Economy” but also is a blatant injustice to the state’s young generation. SIDCUL, whose purpose was to promote industry, now appears to be entering the real estate business itself. The entire process clearly lacks transparency. The public was not informed about how the tender was conducted, nor which companies bid. By making this decision without any public dialogue or consultation, the government has undermined both public trust and accountability.
Mahara stated in the post that the public now wants to know from Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Industry Secretary Vinay Shankar Pandey whether this decision was in the public interest or in the interest of a particular company. By granting the state’s invaluable asset on a 90-year lease, has the government truly mortgaged the rights of Uttarakhand’s future generations? This is not just a question of a piece of land, but of the state’s future and policy ethics.
Congress is preparing to take this issue forward. But the biggest question is whether there is no law and order in Uttarakhand. Mussoorie scam, then IT Park land scam are such cases which have come to light. If the lands of entire Uttarakhand are investigated properly, then most of the mountains have been handed over to outsiders. Which will only increase the crisis of the mountains in the times to come. End
