DELHI AIRPORT LAND SCAM - PRAFUL PATEL RESPONSIBLE FOR RICHES

TO PVT COMPANY GMR AT FARMERS EXPENSE

Draft CAG’s draft report has brought out that the government exchequer incurred a loss of Rs 24, 000 crore due to manipulation in the original agreement and undue benefit worth Rs 1, 63, 557 were granted to  DIAL. The land in question is acquired compulsorily from farmers of Mahipalur, Nangal Dewat and Rangpuri for public purpose at the rate of Rs 4 per yard. GMR the private company developing the Airport, holding 74 percent stake in DIAL is leasing out this land to commercial enterprises at Rs 4 lac per yard.

As per the Operation, Management Development Agreement (OMDA) between Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL)  and Airport Authority of India DIAL was allotted 4799 acres of land on Rs 100 annual lease rent for 60 years. Even for commercial use, 190 acre lands were allowed to DIAL at throwaway price of mere Rs 31 lakh while in the original contract, out of entire lands of 4799 acre, only 240 acre or 5 percent earmarked for commercial use.

The matter of land use was considered by empowered group of ministers (EGoM)  in Jun 2005 which directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to take the opinion of the Attorney General on “Use of Airport land and limit on commercial use of land at airport complex by the JVC” and legality of permitting the proposed Concessionaire to develop the airport for commercial uses unrelated to the airport under the provisions of the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994.

 

Attorney General Milon K Banerji in his opinion dated 17 Jun 2005 said that “It would not be lawfully permissible for the AAI to grant a lease to any person in respect of any airport property for the purposes of commercial activities listed in Schedule 19 of the draft OMDA like building of golf courses, business parks, high tech parks, commercial offices, leisure facilities, commercial arcades, sports complexes, shopping complexes and convention centres etc. unconnected with the scope of airport development and management, including provision of passenger facilities and amenities. If it was considered necessary to permit lease of land to the Concessionaire for undertaking commercial activities that go beyond the provision of passenger facilities at the airport, then it must be done only after an amendment was made to the AAI Act, 1994”.

 

The EGoM  had accordingly decided in its meeting held on 22nd June, 2005 that all commercial activities unrelated to the airport included in Schedule 19 of the draft OMDA be omitted from the final bid document, two major Indian real estate firms who were prominent bidders – DLF Limited and Hiranandini Properties - despite having initially shown considerable interest in the proposed airport modernisation projects, withdrew from the bidding process

 

This decision was reversed by former civil aviation minister Praful Patel who holds the distinction of placing purchase orders for 68 aircraft's; including still in design stage Boeing 787 Dream liner, amounting to 50 thousand Crore for an organisation with annual turnover of only 7 thousand crore resulting in present crisis from a stage in FY 2003- 04 when the company had booked profit of Rs 105 crore. He defended his decision saying it was not for any personal gains however as per a report published in a Canadian news paper, Canadian authorities are investigating payment of a bribe of 250 million dollar by Sholapur born Canadian national Navdeer Karigar to Praful Patel and former police commissioner Hassan Gafoor.

 

 His decision to provide illegal benefits by way of change in land use  to the private company GMR has resulted in loss of over 1.63 lac crore to the exchequer the other undue benefit of collecting Airport Development fee (ADF) from the passengers was also given to the company despite not being part of the original contract resulting in over 1200 crore being collected from passengers till Mar 2012.

 

The Delhi Airport has turned into a real Estate bonanza with 13 hotels being developed on land acquired for public purpose, the blatant exploitation of farmers does not draw any comment even from the Apex court which has earlier ruled that  it amounts to “fraud” on the part of the government to forcibly acquire land under the guise of a public purpose, only to have the property transferred to real estate developers or companies for their use. Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhyaya in the matter of Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation, which acquired the land through the state government, but later backed out after the acquisition and possession of the land, citing poor financial health and transferred it to a real estate developer who wanted to develop a group housing scheme on the land had cancelled the acquisition proceeding terming it as misuse of state power of Emminent domain. 

 

Kissan Mahasangh a federation of farmers organisations during the meeting held at village Mahipalpur has demanded that Civil Aviation Ministry Compensate the farmers for their land and initiate resettlement and rehabilitation measures. A memorandum towards this effect will be presented to the Civil Aviation Minister and further action will be planned based on the response of the authorities.

 

 Scanned copy of Attorney Generals Advice obtained vide RTI, copy of award for land vide which payment for land was awarded to the farmers and photo of the site are attached with this mail

 

 Regards

Col Devinder Sehrawat (Retd)

Secretary- Delhi Gramin Samaj

Co Convener- Kissan Mahasangh