Bihar Government refutes land scam allegations

Patna, July 26 (ANI): The Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar has rejected the allegations of the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of irregularities in land allotment by Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA).

State Industry Department's Principal Secretary CK Mishra refuting the charges told mediapersons on Monday that the report of the chief secretary does not say that there should be no tendering of land, but it says that there is no provision in BIADA for tendering lands.

"Chief Secretary's report does not say that there should be no tendering of land, it says that there is no provision in BIADA rules for tendering of land. We wanted to land all facts upfront before you. Therefore, we have mentioned that there has been only one occasion in the entire land allotment process of BIADA in 2007, when land of Patliputra industrial area was actually put on auction," said Mishra.

"The report will give you the figures as to how many applied, how many succeeded and what happened but it is a fact that, that was one occasion when auction did take place, facts are facts, they can't be denied," he added.

Mishra further said that the entire Patliputra industrial area land allotment process was actually put on auction in 2007.

"The auction did take place and figures will be released to the public as how many had applied and how many succeeded in getting the plots," he added.

Apparently, the prime lands of BIADA were allotted to relatives of ministers and senior government officials.

Instead of promoting industrialists from the state and outside, there was promotion of the interest of the sons and daughters of senior ministers, legislators and bureaucrats, who were allotted prime plots of BIADA without advertisement or tender.

According to local media reports, Urvashi Sahi, daughter of Education Minister P.K. Sahi has been allotted 87,120 square feet of land belonging to BIADA, followed by Rehmat Fatima, daughter of a high profile Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and Secretary of the Irrigation Department, Afzal Amanullah, who has also been allotted 87,120 square feet of land. (ANI)