BENGALURU: Anti-Land Grabbing Action Committee convener A T Ramaswamy said action will be taken against land grabbers who have converted black money by buying agricultural land.
Ramaswamy, who was speaking to reporters on Saturday, said the demonetisation move was estimated to tackle Rs 3.5 lakh crore black money across the country. But, in Karnataka alone, land sharks have grabbed four lakh acres worth Rs 4 lakh crore using fake documents over many years. This is nothing but black money turned into land investment, he said.
Ramaswamy has written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa in this regard.In his letter to the PM, Ramaswamy stated that according to the socio-economic survey, the monthly salary of 75 per cent of the families in India is Rs 5,000. “We welcome your move on demonetisation. But how can Rs 2,000 notes be helpful to families with an income of Rs 5,000?” he asked.
He also spoke about cash seizures in the houses of various officials where crores of rupees were found in Rs 2,000 denomination notes. “How can this be possible without the bank officials being hand in glove with the accused? The I-T people should have woken up early,’’ he said.
In his letter to Thimmappa, Ramaswamy stated that in a recent press meet, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H K Patil said there is a Rs 300-crore scam in conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural land, violating all norms. “In 2007 itself, we had written a letter to the state government from the Joint Legislature Committee where we mentioned about the scam. But no action was taken. If action was taken, we could have stopped the illegal money flow,’’ he said.
In his letter to the CM, Ramaswamy mentioned that the Legislature Committee looking into the allegations levelled against Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) has completed its report on the misuse of land by Ashok Kheny and team. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra, who was heading the committee, was not allowed to present a report in the session.