03-18-2007, 05:20 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sheo Kumar Jhunjhunwala, a friend of Chandan Basu, approached the CM in 1990 with a proposal to set up an art centre to fulfill a "long-felt need" of Calcutta. He proposed a 3,000 sq ft facility -- housing rehearsal rooms, an art gallery, a library, etc. Location: 3 Lower Rawdon Street. Problem: He was locked in a legal dispute with the state over the prime half-acre plot.
Daddy Basu obliged: Jhunjhunwala not only got the government to withdraw from acquiring the land, he got it for Rs 7 lakhs -- as against the market value of *over* Rs 2 crore. Today, Surya Rawdon Gardens, a posh apartment complex, stands on the spot. Nowhere in the published plans of the Rs 11.5 crore complex is there an "art centre." Last year, Basu oh-so-innocently said, "It's a shame that we don't have a proper public art centre."
* 15 acres in Salt Lake were allotted to Kamal Gandhi for housing a garment exporters' federation. There was not a single exporter registered with Gandhi -- who promptly began to cut up and sell plots at profit.
* A sick state-owned sugarcane factory, along with 500 acres of land, were sold to S K Khaitan, of Khaitan Fans, so that he would revive the unit and help the proletariat. Khaitan now grows vegetables there for export to Bangladesh.
* Mahendra Jalan, of the Keventer Group, was given 130 acres of state land in Calcutta's Barasat district - to run a packaging unit.
* Swapan Sadhan Bose, Chandan Basu's partner in a shrimp export business, was practically gifted a state-owned salt factory in Digha.
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This is WB land grab trivia.
More on Chandan Basu and Land grab habbits Link
Daddy Basu obliged: Jhunjhunwala not only got the government to withdraw from acquiring the land, he got it for Rs 7 lakhs -- as against the market value of *over* Rs 2 crore. Today, Surya Rawdon Gardens, a posh apartment complex, stands on the spot. Nowhere in the published plans of the Rs 11.5 crore complex is there an "art centre." Last year, Basu oh-so-innocently said, "It's a shame that we don't have a proper public art centre."
* 15 acres in Salt Lake were allotted to Kamal Gandhi for housing a garment exporters' federation. There was not a single exporter registered with Gandhi -- who promptly began to cut up and sell plots at profit.
* A sick state-owned sugarcane factory, along with 500 acres of land, were sold to S K Khaitan, of Khaitan Fans, so that he would revive the unit and help the proletariat. Khaitan now grows vegetables there for export to Bangladesh.
* Mahendra Jalan, of the Keventer Group, was given 130 acres of state land in Calcutta's Barasat district - to run a packaging unit.
* Swapan Sadhan Bose, Chandan Basu's partner in a shrimp export business, was practically gifted a state-owned salt factory in Digha.
link
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is WB land grab trivia.
More on Chandan Basu and Land grab habbits Link