India is living in deep denial with its refusal to go deeper into the murky world of politicians and real estate. One clear evidence of this is the ostrich-like approach after The Economic Times broke the DLF-Robert Vadra story a clear 18 months ago in March 2011. Even though all the documents were available openly in the public domain on the Registrar of Companies website, the intensely competitive media did not pick up the story. Partly because large sections of the media are compromised and corrupted and real estate companies are among their biggest advertisers. If one realty firm is hurt, media houses not only risk losing advertising from that group, but also face the larger threat of other realty firms ganging up against any publication or news channel that attacks any one of them. Most real estate scams across the country therefore go unreported or underplayed till there?s an explosion that can?t be ignored at the risk of looking foolish.
Added to this, few media houses would want to risk inviting trouble by taking on the son-in-law of the nation?s most powerful entity.
The opposition parties, most notably the BJP, also passed the opportunity to raise a ruckus. The reason suggested by some journalists ? but denied by the BJP ? was that politicians have an unwritten code of not taking on each other?s children, as far as possible. It?s the live-and-let-live philosophy that operates in fraternities including the underworld, where even rivals have an unwritten code of conduct.
Few media houses would want to risk inviting trouble by taking on the son-in-law of the nation?s most powerful entity. Reuters
The opposition also passed on the story because virtually every political party has wealthy politicians with their hand ? not just a finger ? in the real estate pie. Take the case of the 2G spectrum scam in which the CBI has booked Shahid Balwa?s DB Realty as one of the biggest conspirators. This prominent realty firm then came into the limelight and numerous stories followed of the large concessions and enormous favours it had received from the Maharashtra government for its various real estate projects in Pune and Mumbai.
One of the first things that chief minister Prithviraj Chavan did was to scrap a mega low-cost housing contract for 5,000 tenements that had been awarded by the government to DB Realty in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Within a month, the state Home Department announced a review of its decision to hand over a three-acre plot of the Yerawada Police Station to DB Realty for its hotel project. That land had been handed over by the government to DB Realty, amidst protest from Pune Police ? for construction of 500 apartments for police personnel on another plot.
Not too long ago, the NCP was hotly defending its president Sharad Pawar against allegations by the BJP about his links with Balwa. What has been proved conclusively and well-documented by the media is the business partnership between DB Realty and the Pune-based Panchshil Realty ? a firm with shareholdings by Sharad Pawar, his wife, son-in-law Sadanand Sule and daughter Supriya, MP.
The Pawar family?s other interests in real estate firms have also proved controversial ? be it in Lavasa Corporation ? an ambitious subsidiary of the Hindustan Construction Company or the Pune-based City Corporation Ltd which shot into the headlines over a failed bidding for the Pune IPL team.
The real estate sector is arguably the most lucrative sector in India and when unscrupulous players get the benefit of influencing government policies and planning ? the wealth generated is simply astronomical. The evidence is all around us ? it is just a matter of bringing it into the public domain. Entire townships and mega infrastructure projects of hundreds and thousands of crore rupees are planned in this way and then there?s no need to indulge in small bribes. The irrigation scam in Maharashtra which has embroiled the NCP leading to a protest stepping-down by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is a pointer to the nexus between politicians and builders. Irrigation experts say that this is the story in many states across India although Maharashtra is the only state where the scam has erupted.
Politicians across parties in Maharashtra have interests in land and realty projects and among those who got exposed ruthlessly was the senior Shiv Sena leader and former chief minister Manohar Joshi in the Sundew apartments case involving his son-in-law Girish Vyas.
One modus operandi of politicians is to float charitable trusts to get hold of prime government land. Since that is not enough, there?s the other strategy of linking up with a realty firm which invariably witnesses a meteoric rise, thanks to its politician godfather.
Take the case of the Dnyanaeshwari Shikshan Trust controlled by close relatives of senior Congressman and former chief minister Narayan Rane which was allotted a prime plot of Rs 20 crore meant for rehab of recovered psychiatric patients. This plot continues to be with the Rane trust in spite of intense reportage in a section of the media. What about Rane?s other interests in real estate? What about Chhagan Bhujbal and Suresh Kalmadi? There?s lot of smoke and some fire all around, but a lot more needs to come out in the public domain.
The fact is that there are hundreds of politicians across the rank and file of political parties, serving as Mayors, Corporators, MLAs and Ministers who have direct or indirect interests in realty projects. They manage to manipulate government policies, influence the tendering process and become storehouses of black money, all ready to win their next election.
The Robert Vadra ? DLF story is not as black-and-white as made out by the Congress ministers. There are deeper shades of grey that need to be hammered out. And there?s need for far greater transparency, especially in cases involving politicians.
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