KV Singh Deo

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 3: Former housing and urban development minister and BJP leader K.V. Singh Deo today said he had not done anything wrong by allotting land to people under the discretionary quota during his tenure.

“There is nothing wrong in giving land to someone under the discretionary quota. All of them have paid money to the state exchequer,” said Singh Deo.

A hue and cry has been raised in the state over a report, which states that between 2000 to 2009, judges, IAS and IPS officers were allotted land under the minister’s discretionary quota in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority and the Cuttack Development Authority.

Reacting to it, Singh Deo said: “I am ready to face any inquiry. All the allotments under discretionary quota since its inception should be inquired into properly.”

Singh Deo further claimed that all allotments were made within the limits of law.

“There was not a single case of error. All of them had applied as per the law. Even some media representatives have got lands under the discretionary quota,” he said.

Citing that the issue was discussed in the Assembly in 2009, Singh Deo said it was published in newspapers and aired on certain news channels only with an intention to damage the BJP’s image.

Singh Deo further said that the Congress leaders were also among the beneficiaries. “Even chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s house, Naveen Nivas, is situated on a land, which was earlier the land of Lord Lingaraj. Naveen’s father the late Biju Patnaik had got the land under discretionary quota. However, he had paid double the government price for the same. .”

Reacting to this, Naveen said the land on which his residence was constructed never belonged to Lord Lingaraj.