PANJIM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is upbeat about the entry of two Congress leaders, which, they feel, has strengthened the party’s strength on the Floor of the House. While State BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said that not a single naya paisa was spent on induction of two leaders – Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte – into the party, investigations suggest that the exchequer paid a huge amount for orchard land belonging to Shirodkar.
Earlier, this year there were reports of a land deal involving then Shiroda Congress MLA Subhash Shirodkar. Investigations reveal that the Goa government acquired 1,83,524 sq mts of orchard land in Shiroda from Shirodkar at a very exorbitant price of a Rs 70 crore, of which Rs 17 cr has already been transferred to the sellers.
Sources reveal that the deal apparently with the blessings and connivance of the BJP’s top leadership. What is shocking is the amount paid by the government for this orchard land.
Vedanta Real Estate Developers, owned by Shirodkar and his three brothers Amit, Umesh and Sattesh, had purchased this land on October 19, 2006 for a mere Rs 45 a square metre. What is now questionable is, why did the government acquire the same land for a very hefty price of Rs 3,500 per sq metre.
Besides, officials in the Industries Department, which purchased the land, have no clue about why the land was acquired. “Land acquisition by the government is always for a particular purpose, but here, land is being acquired by Industries Department without having any plan in place for what purpose the acquired land would be used,” said an official refusing to be named.
Interestingly, another land owner had by a letter dated April 5, 2018 addressed to the Chief Secretary offered the government 1,40,650 sq mts of his land in Shiroda for Rs 350 a sq mt and a copy of that letter had been also sent to the Cabinet Advisory Committee comprising Ministers Sudin Dhavalikar, Francis D’Souza and Vijai Sardesai, sources revealed.
The question is why Rs 70 crore from the State exchequer is being hurriedly doled out to Shirodkar?
When this question was posed before the BJP State president Vinay Tendulkar, he only said “I am not in the government. I cannot comment on it.”
On how he claimed not a single naya paisa was spent, Tendulkar replied, “I said the party did not spend any amount be it on their ticket to Delhi, hotel or bribe.”
