Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé: Private-Public Partnership

Modi has allotted 14306 acres (roughly 5.67 crore sq meters) of land to Adanis in Kutch area itself. This land has been transferred to them at rates ranging from Re 1 per sq meter to Rs 32 per sq meter for SEZ. In fact, most of the land has been allotted at less than Rs 10 per sq meter. Most of the land is allotted in Mundhra village, where the market rate is Rs 200 to Rs 315 per sq meter for industrial use and Rs 1000 to Rs 1575 per sq meter for commercial use. If we take Rs 10 per sq meter as the average price at which land has been given to Adanis and if we take Rs 300 per sq meter as the average market price, it means that Modi has given an illegal benefit to Adanis to the tune of Rs 1600 crores.

- Says AAP's pol-khol webpage exclusively dedicated to Modi.

Setting the context

We have paid highway toll one time or the other during our road trips. Why do we pay highway toll? If we did not pay toll, would our lives be easier? Are companies collecting toll are "sucking blood" out of us with such high toll rates?

Do we pay highway toll because roads and land of highway are owned by companies collecting toll?

Answer: We pay toll tax because companies that are collecting it have built roads on land given by the govt. So the company doesn't really own the land, but they charge us for their investment + profit from investment.

Such agreement is called BOT - Build Operate Transfer.

After the end of agreement period, toll collection is stopped or handed over to the govt, and company collecting toll goes completely out of picture. Most of our highway tolls operate on BOT model.

There is another agreement called BOOT - Build Own Operate Transfer. We'll get to that below.

Both BOT & BOOT are tried & tested methods of private-public partnership.

Part - 2: AAP hides Gujarat Govt's BOOT policy right under its sleeve

There is a policy called BOOT that is followed by Gujarat Maritime Board. BOOT stands for Build, Own, Operate, Transfer. Detailed documentation on BOOT policy is available here. For those who don't have patience to read the document (it is very small, all of you should read it), I have summarized key points here:

1. Gujarat govt will give land to private industry at a price.
2. Allottee will build infrastructure on the land, own & operate it for a certain period.
3. Allottee will transfer the whole land+infrastructure back to the govt at the end of period of BOOT agreement.
4. In the period that private industry owns & operates the land, govt. gets a certain lease revenue from it.
5. All through the period of lease, govt remains the owner & conservator of the waterfront, and licensor to the developer.
6. Govt becomes owner of the leased land after the lease agreement is over, and along with it govt also gets the infrastructure.

In a nutshell, BOOT policy encourages private-public partnership where private player earns profit for a limited period of time for investment and govt benefits by getting back a fully operational port with complete infrastructure with little investment. In the process, govt uses desert land as collateral, earning lease rental at the same time.

Here are some of the excerpts from BOOT policy document:

What sleight of hand did magicians in AAP use?

As I said in my earlier post, AAP uses deception to pull out allegations from thin air, akin to magicians pulling out rabbits & pigeons. Following key details were completely hidden from public to make AAP allegations look totally 'fool proof':

1. There is a policy of BOOT which exists to check crony capitalism & makes govt and its people owners of land & infrastructure. AAP made sure it was never mentioned anywhere in their documentation.
2. Land was allotted to Adanis, not sold. Notice the detail in their document - they never talk about selling, they only talk about allocation.
3. Land was allotted in Mundra village, where currently only Gujarat Adani Port Ltd. operates under BOOT.
4. Govt earns rental from land allotted to Adanis at Mundra.
5. At the end of BOOT period, land and infrastructure would go back to govt - that is, the people.
6. Govt gave no illegal benefits to Adani group. Everything was done according to the BOOT law.

GMB website here (point no.2) lists Mundra Port as being developed under BOOT:

Page no. 6 in this document from GMB also lists Mundra Port with Adani group as under BOOT:

To summarize, AAP concluded that Gujarat govt gave land to Adani at throwaway prices where Adani group is operating a port and keeping all profit for itself, with govt having got nothing from the deal. Whereas the reality was that Adani group was only a developer who would get returns for their investment for a limited period through BOOT policy. People are still the owners of the port & its infrastructure as it has not been sold to Adanis.

Masters in Manufacturing of Allegations

AAP holds mastery in manufacturing of allegations against its political opponents. Since the party is relatively new and has a few random faces from IITs, people assume that they are a group of truth-speaking patriots. Even BJP and Congress, who are supposed to be good in politics are not as good at manufacture of allegations against their opponents.

Either AAP doesn't understand public-private partnership, or they are against any private sector business, much like communists and far-left intellectuals. Nothing else would explain their selective hiding of key details about Mundra port deal.

AAP is doing a great job of misleading public in this country with false allegations, false promises & fear-mongering by demonizing everyone other than themselves, and putting everybody else not agreeable to them under the same bucket - "corrupt".

Why does AAP have to resort to lies to prove that it represents people? Would any patriotic organization spread anarchy through fear-mongering about some of the performing governments in the world? When they do, are they patriotic or working on an agenda on someone's behest?

It's for you to decide.

If you haven't read Part 1 of Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé, read it here.
If you haven't read Part 2 of Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé, read it here.

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Note: Anonymous/Non-Anonymous comments from opposing view points welcome. Abusive comments will be removed.

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Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé: Urban Land vs. Rural Land

My businessman friend purchased a lake-front apartment in Bangalore. I'll call him Friend-A. While our group of friends was discussing during our usual weekend get together, this friend of mine happened to break the news. Soon, we started discussing Bangalore property costs, and another friend - I'll call him Friend-B - commented that the price of Rs. 3 Cr. Friend-A paid for the apartment was too high in Bangalore.

Friend-B's argument was that he had booked an apartment in Bangalore itself, and he only paid Rs. 90L for it. It was also on lake-front, and had the same carpet area and similar amenities and was from a premium builder.

For a moment, Friend-A was baffled. He had already paid up Rs. 1 Cr. and applied for a loan from the bank for Rs. 2 Cr. Had he paid too much? It then dawned on him to ask Friend-B where he had bought his apartment. As it turns out, Friend-B bought his apartment well outside Bangalore city, bordering a village; while Friend-A's apartment was right in the center of the city. That explained the humongous price difference in both apartments, with almost same amenities and features but different locations.

You might ask why this discussion is relevant to AAP's exposé of Mr. Modi? We'll get to that.

It's important to know these two departments of Gujarat govt to understand the correct picture:

R&B Dept: Dept that handles and regulates roads & land in prime areas.

Revenue Dept [Website in Gujarati]: Dept that handles & regulates land in rural/non-urban areas.

Part 2 - AAP values urban & rural land at the same price

What allegations did AAP make?

1. Modi always gave away land to private builders & industrialists at throwaway prices.
2. When IAF asked for land, Gujarat govt quoted 8 times the price, and offered at Rs. 8,800/sqm.
3. PM had to intervene to get land at lower price for IAF at Rs. 1,100/sqm

AAP contended that Modi had no problem colluding with industrialists & businessmen, but when it came to organisation of national interest like the IAF, Modi showed his real face of a corrupt politician.

These are the two exact sentences from AAP's Pol-Khol:

Modi has allotted 14306 acres (roughly 5.67 crore sq meters) of land to Adanis in Kutch area itself.

AND

Similarly, Modi has allotted land to Adanis in many other parts of Gujarat at throwaway prices.
However, when Indian Air Force asked for land from Modi, IAF was charged 8 times the market rate. IAF was offered 100 acre land at Rs 8800 per sq meter.

We'll take a look at area mentioned in the document attached by AAP in their pol-khol page regarding land allotment. AAP pol-khol page compares land allotted in Gandhinagar to IAF for SWAC to land allotted at Kutch for to Adanis "throwaway prices".

Different Land Types & Land Rates

AAP has compared IAF land allocation with Adani land allocation in Kutch. Kutch is a known desert area.

Point A is where Adanis was allotted land and Point B is where SWAC was sold land.

The document AAP shared mentions Koba Village where land was given at cheap rate to Rahejas for an IT Park. Since Koba village is in the outskirts of SWAC and Gandhinagar, I would use that as the primary reference.

In the following map, point A is where IAF-SWAC is located and point B is where Koba Village is located with an IT Park functioning now (there was no IT park before land was allotted). SWAC is located well within Gandhinagar city and Koba village is atleast 10 kms from SWAC, in a rural area. You can also check the map here.

Land rates within Gandhinagar city vary based on the locality, like in any other city. As one moves out of the city and nears villages land rates fall as with any other city.

What did AAP hide?

1. IAF and other industrialists were not allotted land in the same area at different prices.
2. Adanis were allotted land in Kutch while IAF asked for land in Gandhinagar.
3. Land allotted to industries & private builders was rural land, outside municipal limits of Gandhinagar city and therefore was held by Revenue Dept. R&B department held the land that IAF asked for, and it was urban land well within Gandhinagar city limits.
4. In essence, IAF was expecting urban land at the price of rural land.
5. IAF never asked to reduce the price of land until it was allotted by the govt. Only after the allocation was made, they requested CM directly to reduce the price.
6. Communication was sent by Revenue Department to the IAF, citing the reasons why price of rural land cannot be equated to price of urban land.

Following screenshots with important parts highlighted are from documents released by AAP itself:

        

What is the reality?

Urban land is never valued at the price of rural land, whoever may be the buyer. In this case, very clearly land that IAF asked fell within city limits and land that was given to industrialists at "throwaway price" fell well outside the city limits - in villages. Land allotted to Adani fell in Kutch, a desert area.

Another example mentioned in the documents is of DLF Infocity. But DLF got the land for Rs. 5,000/sqm which was the prevailing rate in that local area, along with additional conditions applied. DLF had to pay full money very next month, failing which they would be charged 18% interest for pending amount.

However, in the end IAF got urban prime land of Rs. 8,800/sqm at a price of Rs. 1,100/sqm. So where is the unethical/immoral action of Mr. Modi that AAP is complaining about?

Was Gujarat govt. wrong in following the procedures as laid down by law?

If Mr. Modi had given land in the same area at a higher price or even same price to IAF than he gave to  industrialists at the same time, then he sure was hand-in-glove with industrialists. Even if industrialists wanted urban land from R&B dept, they would have to pay the prevailing market rates in that area, as DLF already did for their IT Park. That is the procedure.

Half-Baked Beans of Aam Aadmi Party

Aam Aadmi Party's charges were on the assumption that land prices are uniform everywhere and standard procedure should not be followed in land allocation to defense forces. Recent defense land scams have shown that this is a dangerous idea. If AAP comes to power, will they mark land all over the state/country at the same valuation?

Aam Aadmi Party's methods of exposé involve distorting important government communication and hiding key facts from the public. Aam Aadmi Party is a perfect gang of Far-left deception artists & hypnotists who think they can get away by targeting anyone with distorted information.

Do we now know why Aam Aadmi Party never files court cases in issues of corruption? No, it is not because they believe in Janata ki Adaalat (People's Court). Real reason is that they know very well that their cases would fall flat on its face in the court, on both law & morality arguments.

It's still not over. Part 3 is coming up, in which yet another deception that Aam Aadmi Party unleashed will be exposed.

If you haven't read Part 1 of Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé, read it here.
Updated(31/March/2013): Part 3 of Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé published here.

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Note: Anonymous/Non-Anonymous comments from opposing view points welcome. Abusive comments will be removed.

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Expose of AAP's "Modi expose"

Mr. Narendra Modi's government was "exposed" by Aam Aadmi Party just a few days before Gujarat elections. While the so called exposé hardly seems to have cut votes, it did raise a few questions on functioning of Modi govt. Here is the link to AAP's Pol-Khol page.

What it did not do - is raise questions on AAP's method of exposé. Did they tell you the truth? Did they hide any information? Did they lie? You judge for yourself after reading this blog and the links provided in support.

If I am wrong, please leave a comment with valid proof and I will respond.

Before reading below, keep these simple acronyms in mind:

KSK: Electricity Generation Company

GUVNL: Gujarat Electricity Company

GMDC: Gujarat Mineral Development Company

Part 1 - AAP lies on Adani and Gujarat Govt

What allegations did AAP make?

Following were the claims made by AAP to prove that Gujarat Govt is "Adani ki Dukaan" (Meaning, Gujarat Govt. is the front for Adani Group).

1. KSK agreed to supply power at rate of Rs. 2.25/unit while Adanis agreed to supply at 2.35/unit and 2.89/unit.
2. Gujarat govt had to give coal blocks through GMDC to Adani & KSK in order to get these rates for GUVNL.
3. Gujarat High Court passed a stinging order against Modi Government for brazenly manipulating the bidding process and for favoring Adanis.
4. Adanis backed out of the deal with Gujarat govt, and Modi asked govt to supply 50% of Naini coal block to Adani so that they would supply power at promised rates, even though Adanis quoted higher rates.
5. Even after this, Adanis unilaterally canceled the agreement with Gujarat govt but kept the coal blocks.
6. This is the exact statement from Aam Aadmi Party Pol-Khol page: 

So, in effect, Adanis walked away with coal blocks without supplying the electricity at cheaper rates.

AAP also published a file noting by Mr. Modi himself, in which he supposedly orders giving 50% of Naini coal block to Adanis.

What did AAP hide?

There are many things Aam Aadmi Party did not tell us. So what did they not tell us?

Read this news report before we go further: SC admits Adani Power plea against Aptel order

AAP hid from us the following details:

1. Gujarat govt did not supply any coal to Adani.
2. Adani is still supplying power to Gujarat govt (GUVNL) at Rs. 2.35/unit without getting any coal blocks.
3. Adanis are fighting in court against Gujarat govt for not providing coal blocks, yet supplying power at cheap rates. In other words, Modi govt is fighting Adanis in court over cheaper power supply to Gujarat.
4. Modi made another file noting (page 17 here), in which he said KSK will supply power from Morga-II blocks. So KSK remained an electricity supplier and was not replaced by Adani. Adani was favored only because they would supply power sooner than others (in year 2009).
5. Adani group's selection was in addition to KSK group's, and both were for different coal mines.

Updated(19/March/2013):
Many Aam Aadmi Party supporters asked for "solid evidence" to prove that Adani is supplying power without getting coal. I am attaching a link to APTEL judgement that ordered Adani to supply electricity even as Gujarat govt denied coal supply to it.

Aptel Judgement against Adani appeal, which Gujarat govt won, for not supplying coal to Adani: http://aptel.gov.in/judgements/New%207.9.2011%20Appeal%20No.%20184%20of%202010.pdf

What is the reality?

Adani is supplying power at 2.35/unit without getting coal blocks.

AAP chose to present selective statements from the pol-khol documents. They hid specific facts outside of those documents (like court case between Gujarat govt and Adanis over coal block allocation over govt's refusal to provide coal).

AAP manufactured these allegations based on old news reports. While it is true that Adanis were proposed to be allotted Naini coal block earlier in 2009, this allocation proposal was canceled as early as 2010.

News reports were categorically hidden from readers by AAP to misguide the public.

"Aam Aadmi Party Effect"

Gujarat not supplying coal to Adanis is not "Aam Aadmi Party Effect", because in 2010 when allocation proposal was scrapped, there was no AAP or IAC.

It is noteworthy that Mr. Kejriwal got documents for his "Modi exposé" from self-proclaimed "Top Cop" Sanjiv Bhatt, whose wife was contesting Gujarat elections against Narendra Modi on Congress ticket. This exposé by AAP was clearly timed to coincide with Gujarat elections, in hopes of ensuring Congress win. If this does not put AAP in bed with Congress, I wonder what else will.

More is coming in other parts of my exposé. Stay tuned.

Updated (23/March/2013): Part-2 of Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé released: How AAP valued urban land & rural land at the same price to trap Modi.
Updated (31/March/2013): Part-2 of Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé released: Exposé of AAP's Modi exposé: Private-Public Partnership.

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Note: Anonymous/Non-Anonymous comments from opposing view points welcome. Abusive comments will be removed.
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