Ex-CM Vilasrao okayed Adarsh, says sacked bureaucrat Tiwari
20 May 2011
Former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, now a member of the union government, is increasingly emerging as the villain of the piece in Mumbai's 'Adarsh' housing scam, which has been making headlines for several months.
In an affidavit filed today before the state-appointed committee probing the scam, suspended state information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari has stated that dereservation of the Adarsh plot into 'residential type' from 'BEST (bus) depot' was approved by Deshmukh in March 2006.
The controversy is over a residential building in the upmarket Colaba area of Mumbai. Originally meant for widows and orphans of war heroes, it was taken over by politicians, bureaucrats, and mostly retired armed forces brass; and it was turned into a 32-storey high-rise against environmental rules.
Deshmukh then held the urban development department portfolio in addition to being the chief minister.
In his affidavit, Tiwari states that the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking in 2005 allowed the land to be used, provided the approach road was left untouched.
He said Adarsh Housing Society's request to the urban development department to use land reserved for the BEST depot, and its additional floor space index (FSI) was processed as per law and sent to Deshmukh, who approved it.