Land given to RSS-run trust legal: Trustee

Jaipur, Nov 7: Rejecting Congress’ Rajasthan unit’s demand for a probe into and cancellation of allotment of land to RSS-run Pandit Deendayal Upadhaya Memorial Trust (PDUMT) near Civil Lines here, one of its members today claimed there was no irregularity or violation of government rules and regulations in the case.

Charges levelled by the opposition were baseless as Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) had allotted the land on a Cabinet sub-committee’s recommendation and it was an official body to decide on merits of the case and relax norms for any registered body like PDUMT, its trustee Satyanarayn Gupta said at a press conference here.

Reacting to allegations by AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot and PCC president Dr B D Kalla on the matter, Gupta said this was not the first time when the sub-committee relaxed rules for a social organisation on land allotment as 112 other bodies were given the same benefit by the previous Ashok Gehlot government.

He said the sub-committee had reduced the registration period of PDUMT from three to two years and land rate from Rs 11,250 per square metre to Rs 562.50 while issuing the orders.

The land allotment was done after one year of the trust’s registration which was not got done after the land was given to PDUMT, he claimed.

Gupta said the state unit of Congress was making it a political issue.

Congress leaders have alleged that the BJP government had reduced land rate to cause a loss of Rs 8.25 crore to the exchequer.