Lucknow, June 8
After Amitabh Bachchan, it is now the turn of another ''close friend'' of the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government to come under the scanner of the Mayawati government.
Sahara India Group has been served with a notice over illegal construction at their Sahara Sahar township in the Gomti Nagar area of the state capital.
Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) served the notice on Sahara India Housing Limited on June 2 last with charges that it had no clearance from the authority to go ahead with the construction of a multi-storeyed building within the Sahara Sahar.
LDA Vice-chairman Harbhajan Singh said here today that the map of the controversial building was not approved. Besides, the government is also examining the process of land allotment to Sahara Group.
“We have served them with a notice and would say anything only after receiving their reply”, he said.
The LDA had given a week’s time to Sahara to reply the notice.
However, no Sahara India official was available for reactions.
But an official statement is expected from them soon. The building is being constructed in
the Sahara Sahar spread over an area of nearly 270 acres. Of this, 100 acres is on a lease of Rs 1 lakh per annum.
Earlier this week, Sahara had voluntarily handed over Satkar Bhawan guest house inside the Ambedkar Smarak to LDA. The Satkar Bhawan had been handed over to Sahar Group by the previous government on a long-term lease.
The Sahara Sahar land, worth about Rs 1,000 crore, has been in mired in controversy ever since it was given to the group in 1994. In 1999, BJP’s Kalyan Singh government had also issued notices for getting the land vacated from them but he could not do so.
During the rule of the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government, the order of the Kalyan Singh government was withdrawn through a Cabinet proposal.
Meanwhile, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court by Vishwanath Chaturvedi over the illegal possession of green belt land of the LDA but it was rejected. Recently, Chaturvedi filed a rejoinder in the SC on
the case.
After the Anil Ambani-headed Reliance Group and former UP brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, Sahara India is the third close friend of Mulayam Singh Yadav, which has come under scanner of the Mayawati government.
— UNI
