Indian Army & Land Mafia

Defence Ministry struggles to break Official Land Mafia Nexus

The Times of India
July 21, 2016 Thursday

Text of the above News Report

Defence Ministry struggles to break Official Land Mafia Nexus

Rapid Urbanisation Making Defence Plots Lucrative For
Sharks
New Delhi: From Sukna to Adarsh, Kandivali-Malad to now Landour, defence and land
scams have become synonymous in the country.
Stung by a series of land swindles overthe last decade, the defence ministry has taken
several steps to set things right but is yet to really break the deep-rooted nexus
between officials and the land shark-builder combine.
The countrys largest landowner with a staggering 17.5 lakh acres under its belt, the
defence ministry has for long grappled with controversies arising due to
encroachments, land-grab bids, mismanagement of leases and grant of no-objection
certificates .(NOCs) to private builders to construct buildings on military land or
plots. The ongoing legal tussle between hotelier Sanjay Narangs Dahila Bank luxury
holiday resort and the neighbouring DRDO lab at the Landour cantonment in
Mussoorie is just the latest example.
Cricket icon-turned MP Sachin Tendulkars intervention with defence minister
Manohar Parrikar on behalf of his friend Narang has only served to propel the
security wrangle into the limelight.
Whatever be the merits of the case,
the defence ministry says it has
undertaken the digitisation of land
records, including those of the 62
cantonments, regulated issuance of
NOCs, entrusted land audits to the
directorate general of de-fence
estates (DGDE) and the liketo ensure
proper land management.

Prevention of new encroachments

and removal of older ones is an
ongoing process, said an official.
Insiders, however; say there are still
alot of loopholes which can be
exploited by nefarious elements to
encroach on prime defence land. The
problem is that most of the
cantonments and military stations were originally located on the outskirts of towns
and cities. But with rapid urbanisation, the cantonments now flnd themselves
situated bang in the middle of cities or towns.

Consequently unscrupulous elements are always in the hunt to corner chunks of

some prime property said another official. The defence ministry does own some
pretty tony real estate, from the sprawling maidan in front of Victoria Memorial in
Kolkata, the huge cantonment in Delhi and the Navy Nagar in south Mtunbai to hill
stations like Dalhousie, Lansdowne, Kasauli and Landour

National audit watchdog CAG has in the past called for an independent defence land
management authority (DLMA) because of the "..complete lack of accountability and
multiplicity of agencies dealing withdefence land.
DGDE should function under DLMNS control. Powers of local military authorities
and defence estate of offices to dispose of land, including issuing of NoCs , should be
withdraw and vested DLMA," it said

Indians must Google

Rs 55,000 Crore Air India Scam

Who owns Jet Air Ways..?
Rs 60,00,000 Crore Thorium Scam
Escape of Moin Qureshi
Why former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was forced to RESIGN..?
Character of Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Was Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha Murdered..?
Indian Soldiers were RAPED, CASTRATED & then SHOT DEAD, during
Kargil War