No scam in land allotments: Ananth Kumar

NEW DELHI: Union Minister of Urban Development Ananth Kumar on Thursday denied that there was any scam in the allotment of land to any organisation in the Capital and said prescribed procedures had been followed.
Reacting to news reports that RSS affiliates like the VHP, Sanskar Bharati, Vidya Bharati, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Dharmayatra Mahasangh and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had been allotted plots at a fraction of the market rate, he said: "I am dismayed to find that certain sections of the media and certain individuals have chosen to ignore all the facts and deliberately tried to create a facade of a scam in the allotment of land."
In an official statement, he clarified that the land allotment to an organisation connected with minister of state in the PMO Vijay Goel was based purely on merit for educational activities before Goel became minister.
Kumar also said that several political parties and related organisations had also been allotted land by the Land and Development Office (L&DO) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) keeping in view their specific requirements and objectives. Kumar said he would soon release the details of all the land allotted by the L&DO and the DDA in the last 50 years on the official website of his ministry.
As a matter of fact, Kumar said, the government had allotted land to organisations having affiliation with other political parties such as all India Trade Union Congress.
The requests of CITU and HMS were under active consideration and the land would be allotted on completion of requisite formalities.
He said more than 1,000 plots had been allotted to various socio-cultural, religious, charitable, political and educational institutions.