Mumbai, Oct 5 : Maharashtra Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday gave approval to handover a 6,320 square meter plot in Wadala salt pan revenue division costing Rs 74.54 crore to Veer Savarkar Charitable Trust for educational purposes.

BJP legislator from Sion Koliwada Captain Tamil Selvan had submitted a proposal in this regard to the state government one month ago.

Acting on Selvan's request, the government sanctioned the change in the use of land from residential to educational.

Selvan said he is not an office bearer of the trust and added that he had written to the state government as the trust is situated in his assembly segment.

"I wanted that poor kids from my constituency get a good education. This land will not be given for free and will not be used for commercial purposes. I thank the government for giving the land to the trust," he said. As per the government resolution dated July 31, 2023, the trust will have to pay around Rs 14 crore to the government.

On September 9, 2024, Selvan urged the state government to give the land to the trust as a 'special case' for the primary and secondary schools meant for EWS and weaker sections.

Based on this, the Mumbai (City) collector submitted a report on September 11 which mentioned that the reservation on the land is residential and it was leased to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Although the cabinet proposal mentioned that the trust does not fulfil the criterion decided by the state government for the allotment of land for educational purposes, the proposal was cleared by the cabinet.

Last week, a similar proposal to allot a five-hectare land parcel near Nagpur to a trust headed by BJP state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule was discussed by the state cabinet. The government had then opposed the direct allotment, but the trust later said that the state government granted it the land and the trust will be paying Rs 1.46 crore for it.

/IANS