BJP-ruled Vadodara Municipal Corp after Yusuf Pathan; serves notice for ‘encroachment’

Vadodara: The BJP-ruled Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) in Gujarat has sent a notice to former India cricketer and newly elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Yusuf Pathan for allegedly encroaching on a plot of land the civic body claimed as belonging to it.

While the notice was served to Pathan on June 6, VMC’s standing committee chairman Shital Mistry informed the media on Thursday after the issue was highlighted by former BJP corporator Vijay Pawar.

Former allrounder Pathan Yusuf, who originally hails from Gujarat, caused a major upset as he beat five-time Congress MP and incumbent Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in West Bengal’s Baharampur constituency by over 85,000 votes. Although both TMC and the Congress are partners of the INDIA bloc, in Bengal the two were pitted against each other with no agreement reached between them.

Talking to reporters earlier in the day, Pawar had alleged that though the state government had rejected VMC's proposal to sell the plot to Pathan in 2012, the newly elected MP had encroached on the plot by constructing a compound wall.

"I don't have any grudge against Yusuf Pathan. A plot in Tanadalja area under TP 22 is a residential plot owned by VMC. In 2012, Pathan had demanded this plot from VMC because his house, which was under construction at that time, was adjacent to that plot. He had offered nearly Rs 57,000 per square metre,” Pawar told reporters.

The proposal was cleared by the VMC at that time and it was passed in the general board meeting. However, the state government, which is the final authority in such matters, did not gave its approval, said Pawar.

"Though the proposal was rejected, the VMC did not put up a fence around the plot. Then I learnt that Pathan has encroached upon the plot by constructing a compound wall around it. Thus, I have asked the municipal corporation to conduct an inquiry,” said Pawar.

Mistry confirmed the sequence of events leading to the state government not approving the sale of the 978 square metre plot to Pathan and said a notice had been served to him for alleged encroachment.

“Recently, we received some representations about him constructing a compound wall. Thus, on June 6, we served a notice to Pathan and asked him to remove all the encroachments. We will wait for a couple of weeks and then we will decide further course of action. This land belongs to VMC and we will claim it back,” Mistry asserted.

- Inputs from PTI