<p>Mumbai: Days after Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat landed in controversy for a video of him sitting on a bed, smoking a cigarette with stash of cash around him, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar trained guns on him by alleging a Rs 5,000 crore land scam in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai. </p><p>Shirsat, an MLA from Aurangabad West, belongs to Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and is also a minister and party spokesperson.</p><p>Neither Shinde, who is the Deputy Chief Minister, nor Shirsat reacted to the charges.</p><p>Rohit Pawar, who is an MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed in Ahilyanagar district, is the grand-nephew of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and nephew of Baramati MP and NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule and Deputy Chief Minister and NCP President Ajit Pawar. </p><p>The alleged scam dates back to the time when Shinde was Chief Minister heading the Maha Yuti government from June 2022-December 2024 and Shirsat was the Chairman of City Industrial and Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO). </p><p>Rohit Pawar said that the Bivalkar family of Ratnagiri was originally gifted over 4000 acres of land by the British rulers for helping them against the Maratha Empire.</p><p>Over decades, under various laws and land reforms, the property was taken over by the state government, but the present title holder, architect Yashwant Bivalkar and his elder brother Gangadhar Bivalkar have locked horns with the authorities.</p><p>“However, despite this, the Bivalkar family attempted to reclaim those lands by manipulating records, filing court petitions and political lobbying. Their applications were rejected repeatedly in 1994, 1995, 2010 and 2023. But when Shirsat took over as CIDCO Chairman last year, he made the impossible possible” claimed Rohit Pawar.</p><p>The legislator added that in the very first CIDCO meeting as Chairman, Shirast cleared around 15 acres of prime land at Ulwe in Navi Mumbai to the Bivalkar family worth a whopping Rs 5,000 crore near the Navi Mumbai International Airport, which is expected to be commissioned later this year. </p><p>“This land parcel was reserved for constructing 10,000 affordable homes for the poor, but now a luxury building project is likely to come up there, sidelining the common masses,” Rohit Pawar alleged. </p><p>Contending that there were several layers to the whole "scam", Rohit Pawar said the Bivalkars – got the land gift (inaam) in around 1816 - exploited legal loopholes since 1952 to convert a ‘political inaam’ into a ‘personal inaam’ and declaring parts as ‘reserved forest’ to skirt the Land Ceiling Act.</p><p>After the Maharashtra Private Forests Act of 1975 transferred the lands to the state, the Bivalkar family fought in the court and in 2014, the Bombay High Court gave a favourable verdict including a compensation amount, ostensibly due to a weak defence by the state, but later the CIDCO secured a stay from the Supreme Court.</p><p>“Despite the detailed history of repeated rejections, overlooking the fact that local project-affected farmers are fighting to get their rightful share of 12.5 per cent land, the state government chose to hand it over to the descendants of the traitors of the Maratha Empire. This is committing treachery against Maharashtra’s sons of the soil,” he said. </p>
<p>Mumbai: Days after Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat landed in controversy for a video of him sitting on a bed, smoking a cigarette with stash of cash around him, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar trained guns on him by alleging a Rs 5,000 crore land scam in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai. </p><p>Shirsat, an MLA from Aurangabad West, belongs to Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and is also a minister and party spokesperson.</p><p>Neither Shinde, who is the Deputy Chief Minister, nor Shirsat reacted to the charges.</p><p>Rohit Pawar, who is an MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed in Ahilyanagar district, is the grand-nephew of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and nephew of Baramati MP and NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule and Deputy Chief Minister and NCP President Ajit Pawar. </p><p>The alleged scam dates back to the time when Shinde was Chief Minister heading the Maha Yuti government from June 2022-December 2024 and Shirsat was the Chairman of City Industrial and Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO). </p><p>Rohit Pawar said that the Bivalkar family of Ratnagiri was originally gifted over 4000 acres of land by the British rulers for helping them against the Maratha Empire.</p><p>Over decades, under various laws and land reforms, the property was taken over by the state government, but the present title holder, architect Yashwant Bivalkar and his elder brother Gangadhar Bivalkar have locked horns with the authorities.</p><p>“However, despite this, the Bivalkar family attempted to reclaim those lands by manipulating records, filing court petitions and political lobbying. Their applications were rejected repeatedly in 1994, 1995, 2010 and 2023. But when Shirsat took over as CIDCO Chairman last year, he made the impossible possible” claimed Rohit Pawar.</p><p>The legislator added that in the very first CIDCO meeting as Chairman, Shirast cleared around 15 acres of prime land at Ulwe in Navi Mumbai to the Bivalkar family worth a whopping Rs 5,000 crore near the Navi Mumbai International Airport, which is expected to be commissioned later this year. </p><p>“This land parcel was reserved for constructing 10,000 affordable homes for the poor, but now a luxury building project is likely to come up there, sidelining the common masses,” Rohit Pawar alleged. </p><p>Contending that there were several layers to the whole "scam", Rohit Pawar said the Bivalkars – got the land gift (inaam) in around 1816 - exploited legal loopholes since 1952 to convert a ‘political inaam’ into a ‘personal inaam’ and declaring parts as ‘reserved forest’ to skirt the Land Ceiling Act.</p><p>After the Maharashtra Private Forests Act of 1975 transferred the lands to the state, the Bivalkar family fought in the court and in 2014, the Bombay High Court gave a favourable verdict including a compensation amount, ostensibly due to a weak defence by the state, but later the CIDCO secured a stay from the Supreme Court.</p><p>“Despite the detailed history of repeated rejections, overlooking the fact that local project-affected farmers are fighting to get their rightful share of 12.5 per cent land, the state government chose to hand it over to the descendants of the traitors of the Maratha Empire. This is committing treachery against Maharashtra’s sons of the soil,” he said. </p>