Chandigarh, December 25
Breaking its silence on the mega projects, the Congress today demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities and asked Punjab Governor and UT Administrator SF Rodrigues to “proceed on leave till the pendency of the inquiry”.

Virtually throwing their weight behind the adviser to the UT Administrator, Pradip Mehra, in his ongoing tug-of-the-war with Rodrigues, senior Congress leaders, including current Mayor of the municipal corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) and three former mayors, urged to “come clean” on the mega projects by ordering a CBI inquiry into the “scams” worth thousands of crores.

“Land worth thousands of crores had been allotted to favoured real estate developers for a meagre price. In fact, all land deals should be inquired into and Mehra’s objections to these projects should be taken note of to avoid colossal loss to the state exchequer,” said Subhash Chawla, a former MCC mayor.

However, president of the local unit of the Congress BB Bahl and the Minister of State for Finance Pawan Bansal were conspicuous by their absence at the press conference. In a development that brings fissures in the party to the fore, Bahl told The Tribune that he was not “intimated” by the party leaders about the press conference. “Until and unless I know the details about the projects, I cannot comment on Congress leaders’ demand for a CBI inquiry,” Bahl asserted.

Rallying around Mehra for his “free and fair” observations on certain projects such as medicity and film city, Congress spokesman Amarjit Sethi claimed that the adviser was “victimised” by ordering a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) inquiry and withdrawal of powers to write the annual confidential reports (ACRs) of his subordinates by the Administrator.

Demanding open auction of land, including film city, amusement-cum-theme park, IT Park habitat project (Parsvnath's Prideasia housing project), besides the conversion of the industrial plots in the industrial area, Sethi claimed that while open auction of the land had fetched over Rs 20 crore per acre, the administration had allotted land to the land developers at much less price.

Training his guns on the Chandigarh Administration for meagre land compensation for the farmers, whose land had been acquired for the project, Surinder Singh, a former MCC mayor, alleged that the administration was even flouting national rehabilitation policy by not rehabilitating the oustees.

President of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress HS Lucky said the terms and conditions of the the private-public partnership model were heavily loaded against the administration.

MCC mayor Pardeep Chhabra, former mayor Anu Chatrath and president of the market committee Devinder Babla were prominent among those present on the occasion.