MUDA scam: G.T. Deve Gowda denies Minister’s allegations against him
Senior JD(S) G.T. Deve Gowda addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram
Denying Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh’s allegations that Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) had allotted sites to him, senior JD(S) leader G.T. Deve Gowda on Saturday claimed that the Minister was “misleading” the general public by citing the representations he had forwarded from land-losers to the MUDA.
Addressing a press conference in Mysuru, Mr. Gowda said MUDA had not allotted any residential sites to him as alleged by Mr Suresh at a press conference in Bengaluru.
He said he had forwarded the representations received from two farmers, including the wife of a former Zilla Panchayat member, seeking compensation under 50:50 scheme for their lands that had been encroached upon by the MUDA to develop residential layouts including Vijayanagar 4th Stage in Mysuru.
Though 90% of MUDA lands in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency, which he represents, Mr. Gowda said he had forwarded only two applications to be considered under the 50:50 scheme, which had been approved by the Cabinet.
“I had forwarded the applications to be brought before the MUDA meeting and to be legally considered. Not for illegal allotment,” he said while clarifying that allotments under the scheme will have to go through various stages of scrutiny by the officials including KAS officials, tahsildar, land acquisition officer etc.
“How can the Minister say that the sites had been given to me when I have only forwarded the applications of land-losers to be considered legally?” countered Mr. Gowda.
Accusing the Minister of “defaming an honest person”, Mr. Gowda demanded a clarification within seven days. “The Minister should inform me within seven days or issue a press statement. Else, I will issue him a notice,” Mr. Gowda said.
Batting for the 50:50 scheme to ensure compensation to genuine farmers, who had lost their land to MUDA, Mr. Gowda said MUDA does not have funds to pay compensation to farmers, whose lands they had used to develop layouts. If the 50:50 scheme is cancelled, MUDA will have to pay either three times the guidance values of the entire land, he said while adding that the other option of returning the land was not practical as they had created sites and allotted them to the public.
He blamed Mr. Suresh for bringing the situation to such a pass in MUDA by ignoring his responsibility of immediately acting against the alleged wrong-doers, who had misused the 50:50 scheme by generating bogus documents. “If action had been taken against the officials responsible for the scam, such a situation would not have befallen even the Chief Minister,” he said, accusing Mr. Suresh as being responsible for the “black spot” on Mr. Siddaramaiah in connection with the MUDA scam.
Pointing out that MUDA had failed to use the funds collected from site allottees to properly provide amenities in its layouts viz. roads, electricity, drainage, underground drainage etc., Mr. Gowda urged Mr. Siddaramaiah to convene a meeting of public representatives from Mysuru and officials of MUDA and Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) to thrash out a plan of action to ensure that the MUDA layouts do not turn into slums.
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