Royal family kept using land acquired by state govt

JAIPUR: The 10-bigha land, which has three playgrounds and a basketball court and is part of the land acquired by the state government, was being used by the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalay, a school promoted by late Gayatri Devi in the name of her husband.
G Stud', a horse-breeding centre spread over four bighas of land, which was owned by a company in which the former maharani and polo player Kuldeep Singh Garcha had stakes but later became part of the acquired land, was also beyond the JDA's reach.
The building structure of Lily Pool', the bungalow where Gayatri Devi lived, and the lawn on its rear side, which was part of the Rambagh Palace Hotel complex, were also acquired by the state government. Interestingly, while the Lily Pool main building was not under the acquisition, the portico, where she used to park her cars, is part of the acquired land.
Lily Pool is a part of the property of the company that owns the luxury hotel and it used to charge Re one per month as token rent from the rajmata'. The state government, it is learnt, would initiate action soon to remove the encroachments on these land worth millions of rupees.
It is also learnt that a large part of the land surrounding the Laxmi Vilas Hotel, which was once used as the garage by the royal family, is being illegally used by the hotel owner. This land, where a marriage lawn is being run, is a part of the acquired land too.
Out of the 4,600 square yards of another piece of land, 2,200 square yards are part of the acquired land. Only 2,400 square yards, which houses a sprawling bungalow that was sold by the royal family to an exporter, has legal construction while the rest are encroachments on the government's acquired land.
In 1993, when the compensation on the acquired land were declared, Rajasthan Polo Club, a cooperative body registered in 1979, was awarded Rs 1,63,91,557 for 128 bighas and 17 biswas of land and Rambagh Polo Club, which was registered in 1973, was awarded Rs 1,16,295 for acquisition of eight bighas and 10 biswas of its land. But even after the award was implemented, the compensation amount were not disbursed to the clubs.
After acquisition of 322 bighas of land, the state government spared 22 acres of land in all for running the polo club and 89 acres for the golf club. In official records, these land are owned by Jaipur Development Authority (JDA). The government named the golf club as JDA Golf Club but the polo ground was allowed to use the name and style of Rajasthan Polo Club with Brig Bhawani Singh as its life president.