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In Pune, a three-acre prime urban plot that belongs to the Yerawada police station has become the centre of a renewed controversy, 13 years after objections were raised by the then Pune police commissioner, Meeran Chadha Borwankar. She opposed the transfer of ownership to a private builder who was later arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Borwankar, in her latest book titled "Madam Commissioner: The Extraordinary Life of an Indian Police Chief," revealed that the then district guardian minister, Ajit Pawar, now Maharashtra's deputy chief minister and in-charge of Pune, had instructed her to hand over the plot to the highest bidder. Borwankar resisted, stating that the police needed the land for expansion, despite persistent pressure from the minister. All parties associated with the case have not made official statements when this story was published.
The land in question was allotted to the Pune police in 1979 by the then District Collector. 28 years later, in 2007, a private trust from Pune submitted a land exchange proposal to the then Home Minister of Maharashtra R R Patil. The trust held land adjacent to this plot and thus wanted to acquire it for continuity. The trust said that they would give an alternate land parcel to the police and would even build the police station, officers bungalows and police quarters on that land.
Later, the Home Department directed that the construction on the police land be done by a private player through the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. The land was to be handed over to the highest bidder, who, in turn, would construct 500 residential quarters for policemen in the existing headquarters. Tenders were issued and later a private company, D B Realty, which was allegedly linked to the above mentioned trust, got the contract.
But then in 2009, one of the promoters of this company, Shahid Balwa, was arrested by the CBI and was also booked by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the 2G scam. Despite this, the registration process of the land with this company went ahead in 2010. Later, the company approached then Pune Police Commissioner, Meeran Borwankar, seeking permission for construction of police quarters in Shivajinagar as part of the land exchange deal. Borwankar rejected the permission.
The incident Borwankar refers to in her book occurred shortly after she assumed office as the Pune police commissioner in July 2010 when Ajit Pawar held the position of district guardian minister. She has alleged in her book that the guardian minister had asked her to transfer the plot to the company as it has won the bid.
Later in 2011, ED attached the land owned by D B Realty on which it was supposed to construct the police station and police quarters in exchange for the Yerawada land. This led to cancellation of the agreement by the Home Ministry. So, the 3-acre land currently remains with the Pune Police.
As this controversy resurfaces, it raises questions about the transparency and integrity of the land allocation process, putting a spotlight on the intersection of politics and developers in the region. In the unfolding narrative of this controversy, the search for clarity continues, emphasising the importance of accountability, transparency, and adherence to legal protocols in matters concerning public assets and resources.
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