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The Leaning Power Of Vajubhai & Co

In a weird twist to 'set a thief to catch a thief', some suspect names figure in a probe panel—raising the spectre of a cover-up

First the quake shocks and now the cover-up. The Gujarat government’s desperate rearguard action to keep the lid on the politician-builder mafia may boomerang badly, if public mood is any indication. The reason for this latest sense of outrage: the induction of Vajubhai Vala, the controversial state minister for finance and revenue, into the eight-member Gujarat Rehabilitation Authority (gra). It is the blackest of ironies—the largest builder and promoter of real estate interests among Gujarat’s politicians as a key functionary of the body set up to oversee not just all relief operations but also investigations into suspect buildings.

"All things connected with the quake and buildings will now be routed through this authority," says a state government official. Not surprisingly, despite enormous pressure from the Opposition, chief minister Keshubhai Patel has ruled out any inclusion of non-bjp members in the panel. Local Congress members have raised the banner of rebellion. "The complete exclusion of anyone from the Opposition in this important government body means that the operation is going to be a cover-up from start to finish," says senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition AmarsinhChowdhary.

The public seems pretty disenchanted as well. "The sheer farce of it is appalling. Here is a man (Vala) whose son has been charged with negligence, the only building to collapse in Rajkot has been his, and he’s meant to probe building collapses," says Kutch-based Sarvodaya worker Deepak Mepani. Adds cpi(m) MP Nilotpal Basu: "This appointment is scandalous. Our information is that the Gujarat chief minister may not be in a position to remove the finance minister, given his vast clout in the party."

According to an official who is part of this team, there’s little the gra has done by way of examining buildings and recommending changes. "The fact is that in most housing complexes that have been damaged, municipal authorities and the police are too scared to even lodge a complaint against some known builders, thanks to their proximity to ruling party politicians," says one source.

Vala’s induction in the all-powerful gra is not the only one which has raised eyebrows. The other member of this committee who has invited public ire for his reportedly close links with the real estate business is state chief secretary L.N.S. Mukundan. Others in the gra include the chief minister, education minister Suresh Mehta and a clutch of top bureaucrats. In such a situation, can there be justice or, more appropriately, can the bjp salvage its sagging image?

Despite Vala’s enormous clout with the chief minister and within the party as one of its top financiers, analysts say some other developments hold ill portents for the ruling party in the days to come.

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  • Criminal cases have been filed against the finance minister’s son Ketan Vajubhai Vala along with three other builders for the poor construction of Race Course Park, a multi-storeyed residential complex in Rajkot. According to the police, the cases were registered under Sections 420, 406 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code (ipc) for "cheating and use of poor-quality building material". The buildings were considered "too dangerous" to live in. But while other builders have been booked, Ketan’s name was omitted, eight hours after the announcement that he had been charged. Suddenly and quite inexplicably, the Rajkot police chief Sudhir Sinha, who was in charge of the bookings, has proceeded on leave. While Vala himself has been quick to deny his son was in any way linked to builders, some residents of the complex have presented before the police some 450-odd allotment letters bearing the signature of his son. Residents also say that the police was pressuring them to withdraw the complaint against the builders.
  • The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to Vajubhai Vala in the damaged Shivalik building case in Ahmedabad in reaction to a public interest litigation. According to litigant Subhash Ramani, while Shivalik was considered dangerous and was ready for demolition, the decision was changed at the last minute because the builder, Chiman Agrawal, was "hand in glove" with the finance minister. Ramani’s petition also alleges that the decision was changed because of pressure exerted on the municipal commissioner and that Vala was the builder’s silent partner
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The petition, which clearly spells trouble for the bjp government in Gujarat, goes further. According to it, "Vala was very involved in the land business and that whenever he sees land, was always inclined to purchase the same for profiteering". Ramani’s petition also states that Vala had used political pressure to ensure that charges were not pressed against the builder and his associates in the Shivalik building case.

BJP leaders in Delhi privately admit that the politician-builder nexus could damage the party quite seriously in a state considered to be their backyard and ‘laboratory’. What it has already done is to bring out differences within the party, described so far as a monolith in the state. In an important meeting of the party executive held in Rajkot last fortnight, the Gujarat bjp was up in arms. Party delegates who attended raised slogans against Vala at the meeting itself and, according to one member who was present, "The extent of discontent in the party has not been seen since the days of Shankersinh Vaghela."

State president Rajendrasinh Rana, also MP from Bhavnagar, said his party was hell-bent on investigating the politician-builder nexus. "There could be some connection but whatever it is, we should expose it for the good of the party," Rana told journalists after the meeting. State assembly Speaker Dhirubhai Shah, who belongs to Kutch, also has taken a dim view of both the politician-builder nexus as well as the relief work being done in the aftermath of the quake. "I will be truthful to say that the relief work being done by the state government is not adequate. A lot of people are suffering and our machinery is not geared to meet this Herculean task," he said, adding that it was still not too late to make amends.

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That the party was geared towards damage control is beginning to show. Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya told a media briefing in Delhi last week that the casualties due to building collapses, particularly in Ahmedabad, were the result of human failing. "In Ahmedabad, it was a man-made disaster. Faulty constructions had as much to do with death and destruction as the earthquake itself," Pandya said.

The question is, how were these buildings given clearances at all? Pandya admitted that some of the ruling party politicians had connections with builders, "but this itself could not be seen as being criminal". So after a round of heavy defending bordering on outrage, more and more party leaders agree there is a serious case for introspection. According to one party leader, that was also the theme at the bjp’s state executive meeting at Rajkot where unofficially it was resolved that the "party will not pay for the sins of the government".

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But clearly, even the catastrophe has not dampened the enthusiasm of speculators. In Bhuj for instance, where the damage has been most extensive, land sharks have moved in for the kill to start business afresh. With the state government actively considering a plan to relocate the affected population rather than rebuild structures on the debris, the vast open spaces around Bhuj are fodder for them. According to district officials there, people who own land on the outskirts of the city are being approached clandestinely by builders who are willing to pay high prices.

Till now, the Gujarat government has picked up 60-odd builders under various sections of the ipc but the next logical step of nailing their patrons has yet to occur. Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority chairman (auda) Surendra Patel, also the bjp’s treasurer, told The Times of India that despite all the excitement, the builders will have the last laugh. "The real builders are always behind the scenes. In most of the cases, the name of real investors in projects are nowhere on record," he says, adding that in none of the documents available with either the auda or Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and now in police custody are any actual structural designs visible—only layouts of the building or the land, which does not prove anything. Clearly, for lawmakers and enforcers alike, booking people in an industry not recognised as one must be the stiffest challenge to date.

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