H K Patil continues to target Jindal land deal

Continuing his letter-writing spree, senior Congress leader H K Patil has now shot off a note to Home Minister M B Patil listing out nine points the government should consider while reviewing the controversial decision to sell 3,667 acres land to the JSW Steel in Ballari.

The Home Minister is heading a Cabinet sub-committee constituted to review the land deal.

In the three-page letter, H K Patil, a former minister, has pointed out that any allotment of land to large industrial houses should be governed by the state’s Industrial Policy and the Centre’s mining policy.

Patil also reiterated his charge that the JSW Steel had pending dues to the state-run Mysore Minerals Ltd amounting to Rs 2,000 crore.

Raising the question of propriety, Patil wondered how JSW’s application seeking the conversion of the land from “leasehold” to “freehold” could be considered in the first place. Patil has also demanded an audit of the land in question.