In Ayodhya, Firm Linked To BJP Sold Ecologically Sensitive Land To Adani Group At Big Profit: Report

Reportedly, a firm linked with BJP leaders bought ecologically sensitive land near Saryu river and then sold it to Adani Group on price three times larger than for what they bought the land. A firm called Time City Multi State Cooperative Housing Society bought the land for Rs 1.13 crore, between October and December last year, as Ayodhya was prepared for the consecration of Ram Temple. The land was then sold to Adani Group on Rs 3.57 crore, said Scroll.in through their detailed investigation.

According to Scroll.in (a digital news publication), Time City group was founded by Prakash Shukla, who is a BJP member and served as MLA from Kaptanganj of Uttar Pradesh between 2017 and 2022. The group is run by Pankaj Pathak, who is also a BJP member and former business associate of Shukla. The group faces allegations on cheating and two FIRs in a police station in Lucknow.

Farmers are the “losers” in the deal as they sold their land for cheap, and along with it, the local ecology too. The profits made by the Time City group shed light on the often overlooked reports about how Ram Temple is transforming Ayodhya. The temple construction has drawn in large firms like Adani Group and Lodha group to Ayodhya, said the report.

In October 2023, the group has bought a hectare of land in Majha Jamthara, which was then sold to Adani Group. The land is part of the environmentally sensitive wetland near Saryu, which is a habitat of the Sarus crane, grey heron, and the Indian fox. The government has prohibited any new construction in this area since 2022.

Majha Jamthara is a large unpopulated region between Faizabad, Ayodhya and the Saryu river, around 5 km away from the new Ram Temple, which is built on the site where Babri Masjid once stood. Two decades ago, the area was part of the riverbed, but Saryu river receded and changed its course in 1990, large tracts came under cultivation, mainly by farmers of Yadav community.

As a response to question raised by Scrol.in, Adani group spokesperson 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.”

The land in Majha Jamthara that the Time City group bought was first owned by Ghanseera Yadav and Kabootra Devi Yadav. The report further stated that on February 2021, the Yadavs sold the 0.56 hectars of their land to Sudha Dixit, a resident from Kanpur, for Rs 33.53 lakh over two transactions. The amount was significantly below the land’s circle rate (minimum) price, which according to the report was Rs 77.46 lakh. The common witness in both the transaction was Suryabhan Singh, who is the legal advisor of Time City.

More than two years later on October 2023, Sudha Dixit sold the land to Time City for 40 lakh, over two separate transactions. The witnesses in both the sale deed were Jaibhan Singh and Avinash Singh.

On November 6, 2023, the Yadavs sold another land parcel of 0.44 hectare, this time directly to the Time City group, said the report. It was sold for Rs 33 lakh, which was once again the circle rate of the lad which was Rs 58 lakh. The witnesses in the deal was Avinash Singh and Sitaram Yadav. Scroll.in report said nearly all the witnesses in these transactions were linked to local BJP politicians.

Suryabhan and Jaibhan are brothers of Chandrabhan Singh, a BJP worker and member of Ayodhya zila panchayat. Avinash in Chandrabhan’s son. Sitaram Yadav is father-in-law of Suman Yadav, a BJP municipal councillor from Amaniganj in Faizabad.

As per the report, Time City has paid a total price of Rs 73 lakh for the hectare of land owned by the Yadavs, and sold it for Rs 2.54 crore to Ahmedabad-based Homequest Infraspace Private Limited (HIPL), within two or three weeks.

Viren Rajeshkumar Makwana was the one who signed the deeds on behalf of HIPL. Mkawana’s Linkedin profile describes him as “deputy manager legal” of Adani Realty since January 2022. The report said, in a letter to the Registrar of Companies that was dated October 31, 2023, HIPL declared Adani properties Private Limited as its ultimate holding company. In an attached declaration, Adani properties has listed Gautam Adani, and his brothers Rajesh and Vinod Adani as “significant beneficial owner”.

“The Time City’s Adani deals were part of a larger pattern. A summary of transactions available on the website of the Uttar Pradesh government’s Stamp And Registration Department shows that between October 2019 and April 2022, Time City was involved in 31 land sales in Majha Jamthara – in all, worth Rs 2.15 crore. It sold 0.48 hectares carved into small plots at an average of Rs 400 per square foot”, said the report.

Along with the transaction, the legality of selling ecologically sensitive land to players is also a questionable factor here. The report highlight that the 2019 committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which found that the area around Majha Jamthara wetland belonged to the state government. The solid waste management monitoring committee of the NGT was first alerted about the water pollution in the area by a priest in Ayodhya in May 2019.

As per the land records, which is attached in an interim report by the committee, show that a major chunk of the land bought by the Adani group in Majha Jamthara comes under submerged area.