Many big fishes in the net

The highly controversial multi-storied Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society scam is spurning out new revelations with every passing hour and a lot needs to be done before the real picture comes in front of the nation. Maharashtra Revenue department has concluded its enquiry in the Adarsh Society scam and handed over all the documents to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The revenue department has said that the land of the Adarsh society is owned by state government. The 100 metre-tall housing society complex, which is spread over an area of 6490 square metres in the highly expensive Kolaba region of Mumbai, has instigated a lot of debate.

The land was cleared to build the society on the condition of housing war veterans but now has 104 members including senior army commanders, a former environment minister, legislators and state bureaucrats, top army officers and Navy officers.  Reports suggest that even Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s late mother-in-law Bhagwati Manoharlal Sharma’s name also features in the list of allottees.

Quite interestingly, the Adarsh society in Colaba, originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and widows, got converted into a 31-storey tower through collusion of bureaucrats, politicians and top defense officers, violating the coastal regulation limit height of 30 metres.

Former admiral Madhvendra Singh is also one of the beneficiaries in the building.  However, when asked to comment over the issues, he said that he was not aware that the land was meant for war widows and heroes.

On the other hand, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) spokesperson Kanhaiyalal Gidwani has defended the flat owners by saying that all the members have government clearance for the flats.

The Adarsh society is located in one of the world’s most expensive regions, but sees the irony of it- the flats meant for war widows worth Rs 8 crore were sold for merely 80 lakh. Kargil martyrs’ families have expressed their anger over the whole development and have urged for stringent action against those involved in the scam.

CBI has suo moto started probing the scam involving Adarsh Society scam and is looking into various aspects like clearances, possession of land, disproportionate assets of military officers who own flats in the society. It has written to the society, to the navy, and the Mumbai collector in this regard.

Meanwhile, the army has also started an internal probe into the scam that allegedly involves two of its former chiefs along with several other top serving and retired officers of the armed forces.

Aparajita Basu

B.A. in Media Studies

 Semester - I