Goof-up: CM laid school stone on disputed Chamunda land

Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, July 11

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Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur laid the foundation stone of Maharana Pratap School in the Chamunda area on June 6. The Chief Minister had also announced a grant of Rs 51 lakh for the school project. The newly elected BJP MP from Kangra Kishan Kapoor had also announced a grant of Rs 11 lakh for the school from his MPLAD fund.

However, sources told The Tribune that the land on which the school was proposed to come up is disputed. The 50-kanal land that was allegedly donated by Mahant Karmagiri of Dharmagiri Mutth for the school to Rajput Kalyan Sabha was disputed. The land had allegedly been given on lease from ‘mutth’ to a society too for bringing up facilities for keeping stray cows. The society had also raised some infrastructure over the land.

Sources here said the district administration, after being informed about the status of the land on which the foundation stone was laid by the Chief Minister, was dithering on releasing the grant as announced by the CM for the project.

DC, Kangra, Rakesh Prajapati, said till date he had not received any communication from the state government regarding the release of Rs 51 lakh for the school project. “I have also not received any recommendation from MP Kishan Kapoor for the release of Rs 11 lakh for the school from his MPLAD funds,” he said.

The sources here said that realising the goof-up, now the blame game is on to fix the responsibility on the people who did not inform the Chief Minister regarding the status of the land.

The sources are blaming an MLA and a close aide of the Chief Minister for pushing him into laying the foundation stone of the project while keeping him dark regarding the disputed status of the land. The role of district officials posted here at that point of time was also under question.

Some of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was the responsibility of the officials to check the status of the land on which the foundation stone was laid by the Chief Minister. In case the Chief Minister lays the foundation stone on disputed project, it causes embarrassment to the state government.

Though the land was disputed and a case for it was pending in judicial court, the path to the land has been cleared and the work to set up the school has begun.

Land given on lease to two parties 

• Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur laid the foundation stone of Maharana Pratap School in Chamunda area on June 6
• He announced a grant of Rs 51 lakh for the project
• The 50-kanal land that was allegedly donated by Mahant Karmagiri of Dharmagiri Mutth for the school to Rajput Kalyan Sabha and a society 
• The land had allegedly been given on lease from Mutth to a society for bringing up facilities for keeping stray cows.