The Maharashtra government is going to give a 2,000 square metre plot in Mumbai’s Andheri to actress and BJP parliamentarian Hema Malini for Rs. 1.75 lakh to set up a dance school. The ‘Dream Girl’ actress will not have to pay anything for the land that is worth Rs. 70 crore.

Though the BJP government in Maharashtra faced huge criticism for distributing the land, but they have clarified that they have followed the existing policy, which state that charitable and education trusts are required to pay only 25% of the total cost of an allotted land in accordance with rates on February 1, 1976.The market price in 1976 was Rs 350 per square metre. Thus, for 2,000 square metres, the amount is Rs 7 lakh and 25 per cent of Rs 7 lakh is Rs 1.75 lakh. Though the government claims the value of the plot to be around Rs 23 crore, real estate industry sources said that its market value could be anywhere between Rs 60 crore and Rs 70 crore. This decision comes after 19 years, when Hema Malini had applied for a land in 1996, to set up her dance school. The Maharashtra government allotted the plot in Andheri’s Ambivli locality on December 29, 2015.

Another land under Hema’s name

In 1996, Hema had paid Rs 10 lakh for a plot allotted to her by the Shiv Sena-BJP government. But she could not use the land because it falls in the protected coastal regulation zone. Hence, she was forced to reapply for an adjacent plot, a revenue official said. That is why she doesn’t have to pay any money now. But it has been alleged that she is yet to return that land. The decision looks to be a hasty one which lacks substance, political inclinations and proximities seems obvious behind the decision. What qualified Ms Hema Malini’s dance school as an educational and charitable trust that warranted the triggering of the clause of an archaic law remains in doubt and unknown.

The Logical Indian condemns the step taken by the Maharashtra government to distribute prime property land at a minimal rate. We request the Maharashtra government to clarify its stance on the issue, there are many trusts who are doing great work but lack the resources, perhaps the Maharashtra government could re-allocate to the people who need support. Hema Malini with her celebrity status and wealth could surely help herself.