Deccan
Chronicle: Kozhikode: Saturday, 13 December 2014.
The CBI
anti-corruption bureau has started a preliminary investigation into the
allegations of corruption in the Coast Guard move to acquire 26 acres of
wetland belonging to Karanthur Sunni
Markaz in Kozhikode city.
CBI sources
told DC that the available evidence proved that there was an effort to escalate
the land cost for acquisition and thus favour Markaz to siphon off government
funds.
The CBI has
learnt that a defence ministry-level conspiracy had taken place to let the
Coast Guard acquire the land after
Markaz failed to get building permission in the
land due to its classification. About 40 percent of the land is covered by a mangrove forest.
DC had
exposed the behind-the-scene moves in
the deal and the effort of the then district collector P.B. Salim in escalating
the land cost during land evaluation.
In his file
notes, accessed through RTI, he had stated that there was no benchmark available for deciding on the
market rate of land in the area and quoted a price comparing the market price
for commercial land available in the area.
Sources told
DC that the price quoted by the then district administration was 200 percent above the justifiable price as it
was wetland with no scope for a construction permit.
"Our
information is that there was a Defence Ministry- level conspiracy behind this
during the UPA regime to help Markaz get
rid of the property.
They
manipulated a provision in the CRZ rules which gave permission to the central
government agencies to take up construction wherever it suited them.
So the Coast
Guard could easily construct its buildings in the wetland. Markaz wanted to
get rid of this property when he failed
to get a construction permit," a CBI official told DC.
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