Even as he grapples with allegations of grabbing temple property, it is learnt that five acres of prime land meant for a rehabilitation centre were handed over to trust owned by state revenue minister’s late mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and wife’s uncle.
A prime government plot in Pune set aside for the building of a rehabilitation centre for the mentally ill has been transferred to an educational trust run by relatives of senior Congressman and ex-chief minister Narayan Rane. The five-acre plot, located in Vishrantwadi, next to the state health department’s Arogya Bhavan, and close to the state mental hospital in Yerawada, is valued at Rs20 crore.
Investigations by DNA have revealed that the Mumbai-based Dnyaneshwari Shikshan Trust, whose trustees are closely related to Rane, was allotted the plot in Vishrantwadi under questionable circumstances.
State government documents in DNA’s possession show that in 2009, the government withdrew five acres of prime land from a total of 20 acres originally allotted to the Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health (MIMH) and handed it over to the little-known trust, which was registered in 1999 (the year in which Rane was Maharashtra’s CM).
The trust deed registered with the Mumbai charity commissioner’s office at Worli lists Dinkar Khanwilkar, Satish Nare and Shobhana Vichare as the trustees.
Members of the Rane family said that while Khanwilkar is the maternal uncle of Narayan Rane’s wife Neelam, Satish Nare is the revenue minister’s brother-in-law and the late Shobhana Vichare, who expired in March 2010, was Narayan Rane’s mother-in-law.
Satish Nare told DNA he is planning to construct a full-fledged day and residential school at the Vishrantwadi plot allotted by the government. “This five-acre land was earmarked for educational institutions,” he said.
The trust does not have an impressive track record in education to merit the allocation of prime government land. Yet the state government transferred the land to the trust run by Rane’s relatives in January 2009, without any prior intimation to MIMH, the original allottees of the land. It has since been writing to the government, asking it to return the land, but in vain.
MIMH sources told DNA on Saturday that four letters had been sent to the state government at regular intervals since 2009. It had originally proposed to establish a Rs35-crore rehabilitation centre. Though institute director Dr Alka Pawar had written to the minister for higher technical and medical education, Rajesh Tope, asking him to reverse the decision to grant the land to the trust, there has been no progress on the issue.
Rane, however, maintained that he has not used his influence in any way in the transfer of government land to a trust run by his relatives. He said if the MIMH wants its land back, they should approach the appropriate authorities. “Tomorrow, if the MIMH is right and the trust is wrong, I will demolish whatever is constructed by the trust and give back the land to MIMH free of cost,” he said.
A spot visit to the plot revealed a board with the name of the Dnyaneshwari Shikshan Trust standing prominently inside a compound wall dividing the trust property from the MIMH property.
(With inputs from Nozia Sayyed)
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