New Delhi: Senior leaders of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, were regularly holding meetings with officers of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) where several key decisions such as approval of the master plans and auctions of real estate sites were finalised, officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said Thursday.
Additionally, ED has accused Jain of taking all key decisions, such as fresh auctions and GMADA acquisitions, as well as determining compensation for landowners, despite not holding any official position with Punjab government’s urban planning and development body.
The agency has also alleged that reserve prices for GMADA’s unsold land were fraudulently lowered before being put up for auction, causing an estimated loss of nearly Rs 10,000 crore to the authority and state exchequer, and a corresponding benefit to the builder-politician nexus.
The fresh allegations come hours after sweeping raids conducted by the agency at more than two dozen locations across Delhi, Mohali, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ludhiana as part of a probe into alleged irregularities in granting relaxation to real estate firms, such as Tirupati Infra Projects, Remigate Buildestates (India), MB Infrabuild, Mera Baba Reality Associates and Mera Baba Infrastructure.
The premises of the promoters and directors of these firms, as well as senior officials of the Punjab government, were also searched.
The Bhagwant Mann-led government had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking a review of the raids at GMADA headquarters, and alleging that several key officers of the state government were confined and coerced into signing papers. The high court-appointed warrant officer, however, cleared the agency officials of such allegations.
“ED searches have revealed that AAP leaders Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia have been regularly holding unofficial meetings with GMADA officials regarding the master plans and site auctions. Critical decisions, including fresh auctions and acquisitions by GMADA as well as determination of compensation, were all taken informally under the instructions of Satyendar Jain,” officials said.
Reacting to ED’s raids in the case of irregularities in functioning of GMADA, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi called the directorate an “employed dacoit” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “They are called the Enforcement Directorate, but they are Modi ji’s employed dacoits who have been sent to Punjab with the intention of starting trouble in Punjab,” Sisodia said at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
ED officers also alleged that key files of the GMADA containing sensitive information were taken from the authority’s headquarters by senior officials to a Sector 39 residence in Chandigarh for meetings with Jain and Amarendra Jha, the Officer on Special Duty to the former Delhi health minister.
The house was officially allotted to Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, Chairman of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, but was used by Jain to hold meetings, officials alleged. The agency also alleged that Jain’s OSD, Jha, was informally allotted a room within Punjab Urban Development Authority Bhawan, which houses the GMADA headquarters, without any official position, to pass instructions to officials and influence the key decisions of the government body.
“Critical decisions, such as fresh auctions and acquisitions by GMADA as well as determination of compensation, were all taken informally under the instructions of Satyendar Jain. Files were taken by the senior GMADA officials outside PUDA Bhawan informally for meetings with Satyendar Jain and Amarendra Jha at House No 926, Sector 39, Chandigarh and the GMADA Officials regarding important policy decisions like auction, master plan changes benefitting private individuals,” the officials said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)