Fictitious names for land grab

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, DEC. 20. It has now emerged from the preliminary findings of the enforcement teams of the Delhi Government, involved in sealing of polluting industrial units, that a large number of people had given fictitious addresses and wrong information about the nature of their business with the sole motive of ``land grab'' during the relocation exercise.

The feedback received from sealing squads provides an interesting insight into the nature of fraud involved in relocation of industries. It has also exposed the misinformation campaign launched by politicians of various parties including the BJP and Congress, that thousands of units were being closed down rendering lakhs unemployed. Since the sealing operations commenced on Monday, hardly 29 per cent of the total units visited by the enforcement squads had been sealed.

It was revealed during that at a large number of places, no industry existed and people had either been involved in some other trade or were having residential accommodation for many years. But in the Government list, these addresses were listed as having highly polluting industries operating from non-conforming areas. It has now been uncovered that many unscrupulous people had put in applications for allotment of plots for playing fraud on the Government.

Officials said a large number of people had got together and put in applications for allotment of alternate plots at the new industrial sites. The idea was to grab the plots and sell them to gain profit. It has now turned out that a large number of applicants were not genuine. It also proves right the Government theory that a large number of applicants were rejected as they were not found to be in order.

But at the same time, the revelations have cast doubts on the survey carried out by the Delhi Government at more than 15 sites which it claimed were having more than 70 per cent industry. The claims have proved to the false as the enforcement squads have found till now not more than 15 to 20 per cent industries functioning in some of these areas.

``The surveys were a fraud and this has been confirmed now. The lie of the Delhi Government has been nailed and it will now have to do a lot of explanation. The fact is that the survey was nothing but a farce carried out by some teachers. The reports were prepared sitting inside offices of the industrialists,'' a senior official remarked.

In fact, lists prepared by the Delhi Government and other agencies have turned out to be full of glaring mistakes. At many places, while the official lists pointed to operation of a polluting unit, on verification it was found that the area had no such unit and was a residential place. There were no machines on the spot and enquiries revealed that no factory was functioning at the premises for a long time.

This has also given credence to the argument being forwarded by the Urban Development Minister, Mr. Jagmohan, that the survey carried out by the Delhi Government was not genuine and it was done only to help a certain section.

Interestingly, people, by and large, are welcoming the shifting of industries from Delhi as they feel that life could become easier and rid them of the civic woes, including shortage of water and power.

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