MUMBAI: After Eknath Khadse and Girish Mahajan, yet another minister in Maharashtra government, Ravindra Waikar, has been accused of land-grab, this time inside Aarey Colony in Goregaon. Congress has alleged that an illegal trust controlled by Waikar, Shiv Sena MLA from Jogeshwari (East) and minister of state for housing, has grabbed a prime piece of land in the colony and built an illegal floor in a gymnasium.
City Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam has alleged that while the trust was granted a 3,500 sq ft plot, it has encroached upon over 20 acres of surrounding land. The Congress had also raised the issue of the personal secretary of another Sena minister, Deepak Sawant, speaking inappropriately to a woman medical officer. The secretary, Sunil Mali, has been booked for sexual harassment.
"There is a clear conflict of interest and gross abuse of power. If Waikar does not quit on his own, CM Devendra Fadnavis must sack him from the cabinet. This is a Khadse-like land-grab case,” Nirupam said.
According to the Congress, Waikar had asked Mhada for allotment of land in Aarey Colony in the name of Shivsamarth Shikshan Prasarak Sanstha, a trust controlled by his family members. It was allotted a plot measuring 3,500 sq ft for construction of a gym on the ground floor from the local area development fund at the disposal of a legislator.
Nirupam said that the rules for utilisation of MP/MLA fund state that the organisation must be registered with the state charity commissioner and should be independent and that no family member of the MP/MLA should be its office-bearer. Nirupam claimed he had invoked the provisions of the RTI Act to secure information that the trust had not been registered. Waikar denied all charges. “Nirupam is in the habit of making baseless allegations,” he said.