Dehradun, June 03: The Dhami government of the state has taken major action in the land scam of โน 54 crores in Haridwar. A total of 12 personnel including two IAS, one PCS officer have been suspended in the case. With this, now the Vigilance will investigate the land scam.
The matter of purchasing unsuitable and cheap agricultural land located near the garbage dump by Haridwar Municipal Corporation for โน 54 crore had created a stir across the state. Neither was there a real need for land, nor was a transparent bidding process adopted. Bypassing the transparent policies of governance, a deal was done which was suspicious at every level.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami got the entire foul play investigated impartially and took major action against three senior officers as soon as the report was received.
The officers against whom action was taken include Haridwar District Magistrate (DM) Karmendra Singh, former Municipal Commissioner Varun Chaudhary and SDM Ajayveer Singh. These three officers have been removed from their current posts and further departmental and punitive action has been initiated at the government level. Along with this, Nikita Bisht (Senior Finance Officer, Municipal Corporation Haridwar), Vicky (Senior Personal Assistant), Rajesh Kumar (Registrar Laws), Kamaldas (Chief Administrative Officer, Tehsil Haridwar) have also been suspended with immediate effect after being found suspicious in the land scam.
Action taken so far
After nominating the investigation officer, Municipal Corporation’s in-charge Assistant Municipal Commissioner Ravindra Kumar Dayal, in-charge Executive Engineer Anand Singh Mishravan, Tax and Revenue Superintendent Laxmikant Bhatt and Junior Engineer Dinesh Chandra Kandpal were suspended after being found prima facie guilty in this scam. The service extension of property clerk Vedwal was also terminated. He was given service extension after retirement. The Municipal Commissioner was directed to take disciplinary action against him under the provisions of Article 351 (A) of the Civil Services Regulation. Now the probe of this entire matter has been handed over to the Vigilance Department.