Arun Dhumal fires salvo at Himachal CM

In a fresh salvo at Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, his predecessor P K Dhumal's son Arun raked up a 42-year-old land case.
Arun alleged that land was sold by the Singh in October 1974 and it remained unutilised before it was acquired by the government for afforestation in 2007 when Singh was chief minister.
After acquiring the land in just three months, the forest department neither planted any trees or saplings during past eight years nor restored the land to the owners as per the requirement of the law, Arun alleged.
The land had to be restored to the owner if the land was not used within three years for purpose for which it was acquired, he added.

Arun also alleged that the government was adopting double yardsticks in granting permissions for construction of house in core areas and claimed that Vikramaditya Singh, son of chief minister had been granted permission to construct a guest house on the land close to Holley Lodge, ancestral house of Singh in the core area.
He also alleged that the CM transferred his ancestral land in the name of Vikramaditya without the consent of other legal heirs and sought action against the concerned revenue officials.
Arun also targeted the chief minister for repeatedly raking up the issue of properties by his family and said that fresh notice to former chief minister P K Dhumal by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe properties of Dhumals was a retaliatory move in the wake of raids by CBI into the premises of Virbhadra Singh and family members and attachment of his properties by Enforcement directorate in money laundering case.

The state government was using bullying tactics and probing the properties for past three years and it should come out with the facts if the SIT had unearthed any new property, he said.