In Ayodhya, firm linked to BJP leaders sold ecologically sensitive land to Adani: Report

Agencies

Mumbai: Just days before the Ram temple consecration ceremony at Ayodhya, Scroll.in, in its detailed investigation, has found out about land dealings between local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and the Adani group, reports The Wire.

According to the story by reporter Ayush Tiwari, between October and December 2023, a firm called Time City Multi State Cooperative Housing Society bought a small parcel of land near the Saryu river for Rs 1.13 crore.

Weeks later, the report says, the land was sold to the Adani group for more than three times the price – Rs 3.57 crore.

Time City is a part of the Time City group founded by Chandra Prakash Shukla, a former chartered accountant with the Sahara group, who joined the BJP and was an MLA from Kaptanganj between 2017 and 2022.

The group is run by Shukla’s former business associate, Pankaj Pathak – a BJP member, who the Scroll report says has “many friends in the state unit of the BJP party”.

In this deal, it was the farmers who sold the land for a cheap throwaway price. The land deal also raises many ecological questions. In October 2023, Time City bought a hectare of land in Majha Jamthara.

That land belonged to the families of Ghanseera Yadav and Kabootra Devi Yadav. The land in Majha Jamthara that was sold to the Adani group is part of the environmentally sensitive wetland near Saryu, a habitat of the Sarus crane, grey heron, and the Indian fox.

Since December 2022, the government has prohibited any new construction in this area. In a response to Scroll’s questions, a spokesperson for the Adani group said, “The transaction carried out by [one of its subsidiaries] is completely legal and has been conducted in accordance with all laws and regulations. The company acquired land at the prevailing circle rates.”