The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Sale of Siruseri industrial park land illegal, says DMK

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Sale of Siruseri industrial park land illegal, says DMK

Special Correspondent

"Government sold the land at Rs.15 lakh an acre, against market value of Rs. 2 crore"

PRESENTING A MEMORANDUM: DMK general secretary K. Anbazhagan along with party MLAs Arcot Veerasamy and Durai Murugan with Governor Surjit Singh Barnala at Raj Bhavan in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: M. Vedhan

CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs on Monday handed over a memorandum to Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, alleging that the sale of 102 acres in the Siruseri industrial park was "illegal" and violated "all rules and regulations."

The present Government sold the land "at a very low cost of Rs.15 lakh per acre," when the market value was Rs. 2 crore, said the memorandum, signed by DMK president M.Karunanidhi, and MLAs. It was handed over by party general secretary K.Anbazhagan at Raj Bhavan. Senior leaders, including Arcot N.Veerasamy, Durai Murugan, Parithi Ilamvazhuthi and K.Ponmudi were part of the delegation.

Mr. Anbazhagan, who addressed presspersons later, said the members wanted the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the issue. Not only was the land sold at a lower price, service organisations such as Metrowater provided connections free, he alleged.

Mr. Murugan said when a land was not used for the purpose it had been acquired for, a fresh tender needed to be called for its disposal. It was the DMK Government that acquired the land through SIPCOT between 1996 and 2001 to establish an information technology park.

Mr. Ponmudi said if the intention was to get a good price for the precious land along Old Mahabalipuram Road, global tenders should have been invited.

Also, if the Government wanted to get the best out of a project, it should have given a chance to more players in the field.

Many concessions were accorded to a Singapore-based company and this violated all norms, he said.

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