‘Rs 300cr land went for Rs 25cr’: In Haryana assembly, Cong alleges scam in Rohtak

Chandigarh: An infamous scam involving land worth Rs 300 crore in Rohtak dominated discussions on CM Nayab Singh Saini's budget address in the Haryana assembly on Friday.Most Congress MLAs targeted BJP govt on issues of infrastructure and other development matters, but it was former minister and Rohtak MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra who raised the issue of an alleged Rs 300-crore scam involving govt officials and locals.
Batra raised questions about the govt's role. "This matter is not limited to just a company going bankrupt, but involves several serious concerns, including the role of the state govt, administrative accountability, potential revenue loss, benami transactions, and political patronage," he said.The issue related to a telecom company which closed during 2019-20. At the time of closure, the company had a debt of Rs 96 crore, of which Rs 86.6 crore were dues of Haryana govt departments.It was alleged that the company initiated insolvency proceedings in National Company Law Tribunal for recovery of Rs 8 crore. Subsequently, on April 12, 2023, approval was given to acquire the company for Rs 25.14 crore under the resolution plan. When payment was not made on the stipulated time, a performance guarantee of Rs 4 crore was forfeited, after which another entity submitted a demand draft of Rs 21.14 crore.Batra said in the House that the biggest question was how the property, whose collector rate was approximately Rs 75 crore, whose value was stated to be more than Rs 200 crore before NCLT, and whose price in the local market was estimated at approximately Rs 300 crore, was transferred for a mere Rs 25.14 crore.Opposition MLAs also raised the waiver of penal interest and govt's silence on the entire issue.The opposition demanded a high-level investigation, a forensics audit, and an immediate ban on developing colonies and selling plots without a licence.BJP MLAs hail budgetDuring the discussion, BJP MLAs who hailed the budget. Samalkha MLA Manmohan Badhana said in the 76-page budget speech, "Kirat Kar Naam Jap Vand Chhak" was the foundation of the budget. He said the BJP govt was working honestly.BJP MLA from Rai, Krishna Gehlawat, called the budget pro-public. Gehlawat said through the VBG-RAM-G scheme, work guarantee increased from 100 to 125 days.BJP MLA Vinod Bhyana said the govt was working on the promises made in the Sankalp Patra.Parliamentary affairs minister Mahipal Singh Dhanda said the opposition was not serious even about discussions on the budget. Dhanda took a dig at the low attendance of opposition members in the House. "A calling attention motion was brought on the issue of sugarcane farmers; the opposition talks about farmers, but did not even give a single suggestion on this subject," he said.Congress MLA Chandraprakash said no provision was made for farmers in the budget. "Farmers do not get fertilisers and seeds, and they do not get MSP in the mandis," Chandraprakash said. He also slammed the state's debt, saying it had now reached Rs 5.56 lakh crore.