AAP seeks white paper on purchase of tea estate land

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 24

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has reiterated that the state government needs to come up with a white paper on the acquisition of tea garden land in Dehradun for the smart city project.

Senior AAP leader Anoop Nautiyal said a white paper on the tea garden land acquisition for the smart city project was the need of the hour.

He pointed out that real estate giant Emaar MFG was the main player behind tea garden land acquisition.

Nautiyal said the Uttarakhand government had identified 350 acres belonging to Dehradun Tea Company (DTC) for the smart city project. The DTC is the owner of 1,127 acres of the Harbanswala and Arcadia tea gardens in Dehradun.

He added 73 per cent of the shares of the DTC were owned by promoters of the realty major Emmar MGF. The MGF had created a web of six different companies —Logical Buildwell, Amardeep Properties, Compact Properties, Loam Realtors, Alcove Realtors and Cameo Realtors to purchase the shares of Dehradun Tea Company.

The various entities of Emmar have invested Rs 116 crore in acquiring 73 per cent shares of the DTC. The Uttarakhand government has been in talks with the DTC to purchase their 1,127 acres for Rs 1,728 crore. If this transaction were to take place, Emmar would pocket Rs 1,145 crore. In short, the biggest beneficiary of the Dehardun smart city project.

“The deal needs to be probed and a white paper can reveal the truth behind it,” Nautiyal observed.