Written by: Express News Service
3 min readShimlaSep 13, 2011 02:54 AM IST
First published on: Sep 13, 2011 at 02:54 AM IST
Less than a fortnight after the state government gave itself a clean chit in the controversial Apartment project of an up-scale realtor,a Shimla-based RTI activist,Om Parkash today added a fresh twist to the row by writing to the Director General of Police,Diljeet Singh,seeking registration of a FIR and pushing for forensic examination of all the documents- most of which he suspects are forged.
The issue of allowing a mega apartment project in the town allegedly in complete violation of norms and the Forest Conservation Act was raised in the State Assembly twice by the opposition Congress but the government had dismissed the charges.
Om Parkash,who today released copies of the documents including the General Power of Attorney (GPA) to the media here said,“ Some interested persons have spent Rs 50 lakh on construction of a road through the thick forest of deodars to connect the site with the road. The representation of the locals,on which the road was sanctioned,have signatures of persons,who are dead”.
The activist said forest officials were in connivance with those who violated the Forest Conservation Act,under pressure from highly influential people .The purchase of cement – copies of the receipts he procured under the RTI Act,show that the material was bought from Kharapather near Rohru instead of Shimla town where the road has been built.
A revelation which Parkash made on the basis of documents in his possession,relates to similarity in the signatures of people who had signed the representation seeking sanctioning of funds for the road,and Registry of the land ,beside General Power of Attorney (GPA) . “Please send them to forensic experts for comparisons and drawing-up final conclusions”,Parkash said.
The Congress,which was first to raise the issue had also used the RTI Act to procure documents relating to the project. “ When the Congress comes to power,this will be one of the tasks which the government will like to undo by ordering a high level inquiry and taking the guilty,including officials who approved the project to justice”,said PCC president Kaul Singh Thakur.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal,during the Assembly’s last session,had rejected charges of any irregularity and had given his government a clean chit in the project. The chief minister,however,had offered the opposition a chance to approach the Judicial Commission,set-up by the government to probe benami deals in the state.
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