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Journalism of Courage
The Cyber City controversy took another turn on Friday, with the Government-appointed panel recommending to the Government that efforts be made to take back the land from the private builder. Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said a decision can be taken on the report only at the next meeting of his Cabinet.
Sources said the report of the committee, comprising the state chief secretary and secretaries of industries, revenue, law, registration and IT departments, were unanimous in their recommendation to take back the land, However, the Industries Department put in its note of dissent about the findings.
Central PSU Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) had sold 70 acres of originally government land to Bluestar Realtors, a subsidiary of Mumbai-based Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), for setting up the Rs 4,000-crore Cyber City project. This was a portion of the land that the Government gave HMT to set up its factories.
The Government later took back 100 acres that HMT was not found to be using for the specific purpose it was given for, but subsequently gave it back to HMT for further expansions. The 70 acres sold to HDIL was part of the latter land, and two ministers, Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem and Revenue Minister K P Rajendran, fast-tracked procedures to regularise the deal.
There were allegations that the land was sold at a fraction of its market rate. After the issue went to the Kerala High Court, the state Government told the court that it would take corrective action in case there was foul play in the deal.
The deal’s opponents argue that the two minis-ters who regularised the transfer did not bother to explore options for taking back the land from HMT, or even to make sure that the project conformed to the state’s guidelines for IT initiatives specifying strict space utilisation and job generation norms, before facilitating the deal for the private project promoters who had scarcely any experience with IT projects.
The IT Department, headed by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, has already disowned the project, and V S had stayed away from the project inauguration too. With the CPI(M) State Conference around the corner, the issue has political implications.
The VS faction is preparing to use it against the rival faction of party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. Vijayan himself had attempted to defend Kareem, one of his closest loyalists, saying the deal originated during the earlier UDF regime.
Meanwhile, the state opposition on Friday stepped up its campaign, stridently demanding that the two ministers quit or be expelled.
