Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda insists that his Government hasn’t taken any decision on acquiring land from the Horticulture & Agro-Forestry Research Programme (HARP) for a housing scheme for MPs and MLAs. “The plan is at a premature stage,” he said on Saturday at his official residence.

But official documents obtained by The Indian Express under the RTI Act reveal that the state administration has already done the spadework to settle the title of HARP’s land in favour of its scheme.

The Ranchi Additional Collector’s March 1 letter to the South Chotanagpur Divisional Commissioner’s secretary says: “In subject related with the above, it is to state that the proposal prepared and approved by the Ranchi Deputy Commissioner for transfer of land to Vidhayak Evam Sansad Grih Nirman Swalambhi Sahkari Samiti Ltd is being forwarded.”

Earlier, the Samiti’s chief executive, C P Singh, an MLA of the Opposition BJP, had dispatched a letter to the Assembly Secretary on February 5 requesting him to get land for the MLAs and MPs. On February 22, Circle Officer, Namkom block, under whose jurisdiction HARP land falls, received a file with request to transfer the title of this land on lease to the Samiti.

The additional collector also prepared a file related to the status of the HARP’s land on February 27. The file, based on a report submitted to him by the Circle Officer of Namkom, states this: “During the course of site inspection, it was found that the land is protected by barbed wire. It is under possession of HARP. The proposal to settle the land (to the Samiti) on a lease basis for 30 years is prepared.”

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