The Hindu : Karnataka News : Governor urged to stop sale of NGEF land

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Governor urged to stop sale of NGEF land

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, APRIL 13. The former Union Minister and Janata Dal (S) candidate from the Bangalore North Lok Sabha Constituency, C.M. Ibrahim, has urged the Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi, to stop the State public sector unit, New Government Electrical Factory Ltd. (NGEF), from selling its vacant land to a private land developer.

Participating in a "meet-the-press" programme of the Press Club of Bangalore on Tuesday, Mr. Ibrahim said he was greatly concerned over the moves by the S.M. Krishna Government as the NGEF was situated in the constituency from which he was seeking election. A "caretaker" Government could not take such important decisions. The Governor should seize the records pertaining to the land deal, he said.

Mr. Ibrahim also demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the land deal. The land belonging to the once-prestigious unit was being sold on the advice of an international consultancy firm. In the first place, the State Government need not have appointed that agency. The Bureau of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, to which the NGEF had been referred as it was a sick industry, had recommended that the Industrial Development Bank of India should be the consultant for the industry.

Mr. Ibrahim alleged that the Government had now decided to sell 40.45 acres of NGEF land to a private land developer at Rs. 278 a square foot as against the average rate of Rs. 500 a square foot at which the company itself had sold part of the land belonging to it. He alleged that the land developer was a close relative of a highly influential person in the Government. The surplus NGEF land should be handed over to the Bangalore Development Authority, he added. About his prospects in the election, Mr. Ibrahim said his services to the State and the nation were by no means modest. His Congress opponent, C.K. Jaffer Sharief, was seeking election to the Lok Sabha for the eighth time (seventh time from Bangalore North) on the basis of his contribution to the development of railway services in the State.

He too had made similar contributions in the field of civil aviation.

It was he who improved the frequency-modulated (FM) channel of All India Radio (AIR). It had helped AIR earn over Rs. 250 crore a year as revenue, he claimed.

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