BHOPAL: The ruling BJP was on the dock in the MP Assembly on Wednesday after one of its MLAs alleged that large acres of land, belonging to members of the tribal community, was being illegally purchased by the land mafia in Jabalpur. He claimed that this ‘mega scam’ was happening because of the collusion between the government officials and the land mafia.
Raising the issue through a ‘calling attention’ motion, BJP MLA Susheel Kumar Tiwari said he had hard evidence, which he was ready to submit to the House, to prove that close to 2,000 acres of land belonging to about 800 tribals and farmer famil ies in Jabalpur were fraudulently purchased by the land mafia in Jabalpur. According to him, the land was bought at the rate of `80,000 per acre, though the prevailing price was `40 lakh per acre. While submitting a written reply to Tiwari, Revenue minister Rampal Singh said that due procedure under the state land revenue code were followed in the cases where the land belonging to tribals were transferred to the non-tribals.
However, Tiwari, who was not satisfied with the answer submitted by a minister from his own party, sought a time-bound inquiry into the alleged scam.
He was also joined by a few Congress MLAs from the Jabalpur region, who said they had also come to know that the tribal lands were being illegally purchased by the land mafia. Speaking to Express, Tiwari said he was not satisfied with the minister’s answer and hence asked for a time-bound inquiry into the scam. “I have documented evidence that shows that the land mafia bought huge amount of tribal and farmer land without following the due process,” he said.