By IANS,
Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Housing Minister Jayant Malaiya Wednesday denied reports about his involvement in the allotment of prime land here to construct a building to house his wife’s magazine.
The Madhya Pradesh ombudsman had last week taken cognisance of a complaint by Congress leader Choudhary Rakesh Singh about the allotment of 10,000 sq ft land in Arera Hills area for Sudha Malaiya’s magazine.
“The magazine is being published for the past 12 years or so and she (Sudha) had been trying for allotment of government land for it since 1998 when reservation of about 5,000 sq ft land was made for the magazine but later cancelled in 1999,” the minister clarified.
“She again applied for land for the publication in 2000 and this time 10,000 sq ft land was reserved and even the requisite amount was deposited as part of the process for land allocation by the revenue department. I was not the minister on both occasions,” Malaiya said.
“I have also never sought in writing or orally any reservation of land to my wife or anyone else,” he told reporters, adding that government land in Bhopal had been reserved for several newspapers also.