Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam demands suspension of BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta over privatisation of land in city

Mumbai: City Congress president Sanjay Nirupam urged Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday to suspend BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta for his alleged involvement in losing Rs 500 crore-worth prime piece of land in suburban Jogeshwari. In his letter, Nirupam alleged that Fadnavis’s consistent ignorance has provided Mehta with “enough chance do to scams” which are being exposed every passing day. “The fact that the Jogeshwari plot in question worth Rs 500 crore and measuring 13,000 square metres, which was initially reserved for a hospital and other public purposes, was deliberately allowed, by default, to be returned to the private owners makes it evident that this is a major scam in which the municipal commissioner appears to be hand in glove with the private owner,” Nirupam’s missive reads. [caption id=“attachment_4882791” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam. PTI[/caption] He also enlisted various acts of alleged “omission and commission” on the part of the Brihanmumbai Municipal commissioner which eventually led to the land scam. Nirupam wrote, “Why didn’t Ajoy Mehta approach the Supreme Court when the civic body lost the case in High Court? “Also, being the head of the Development Plan (DP) department, it was Mehta’s prime responsibility to track the whole case instead of completely leaving it up to the Law department officials. This indicates gross dereliction of duty or deliberate inaction and criminal conspiracy on the part of the BMC Commissioner.” The former MP also urged Fadnavis to order investigation into the “mysterious death” of a Dalit peon of the DP department, who was in-charge of the tampered file, fell to his death from a train few days later. “We need to find out whether this was an accident or a murder executed only to wipe out evidence since he was a crucial witness,” he demanded. The Mumbai Congress Chiefon Wednesday led a delegation of Congress corporators and met with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-1) to file an FIR against the alleged corrupt activities of the BMC Commissioner and some other top officials of the civic body. The Congress had demanded Wednesday a probe against the BMC after the civic body lost the court case of a plot worth Rs 500 crore in a suburb. The civic body, however, rejected the charges, saying all due processes were followed to acquire the plot despite the fact that the purchase notice was not served through a proper channel.