Raze Adarsh in 3 months, orders Jairam
Minister of state for environment Jairam Ramesh on Sunday ordered demolition of the “unauthorised” Adarsh highrise apartment building in Mumbai’s posh Colaba area within three months.
In a terse order, the environment ministry said the controversial 31-storey structure, originally intended to house the widows of Kargil martyrs, “must be removed in its entirety and the area restored forthwith” as it did not have the requisite Coastal Regulation Zone and Environment Protection Act clearances.
In Mumbai, Maharashtra’s environment minister Sanjay Devtale said the state government would take a decision soon after getting a copy of the environment ministry’s directive. Adarsh Society counsel Satish Maneshinde said the order would be challenged in the Bombay high court.
The Adarsh housing society has been in the eye of a storm following reports that several flats there were “illegally allotted” to senior retired military officers, including a few former service chiefs, as well as senior bureaucrats and their families, as well as the relatives and associates of top politicians. Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan had been forced to resign in the wake of this controversy.
Several other former CMs, including Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Narayan Rane, are under scrutiny for their role in the scam. The CBI is also investigating the role of top bureaucrats and politicians.
The MoEF order said three options were available: first, removal of the entire structure; second, removal of that part of the structure exceeding the floor space index; third, advising the government to take over the building for public use.
Mr Ramesh said the last two options were rejected as it would amount to condoning an irregularity.
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