Tripura govt. denies providing land to Rose Valley group

The Tripura Government on Sunday denied media reports that it provided any land to the Rose Valley group and stated that legal action has been initiated against them for illegally occupying a chunk of government land. “It has come to our notice that a section of press was trying to tarnish the image of the government saying that we had given land to Rose Valley group. But the fact is that we never gave them any land, rather we have initiated legal action against them for grabbing government land and other illegal activities,” Tripura Revenue minister Badal Chowdhury told reporters. Rose Valley group chairman Gautam Kundu was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in Kolkata on March 25 under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Chowdhury said the Tripura government had urged the Central government, Reserve Bank and SEBI for enacting an appropriate law for taking action against the chit funds and Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in 1998, but they did not pay heed to it. “Then we enacted an act in 2000, which was not very effective and then we further enacted a powerful act against the chit funds and NBFCs, and then they began to run from the State,” the minister said. He said the present Rose Valley amusement Park was set up on a land of 39.5 acres of land of which 20.02 belonged to them. Out of 39.5 acres of land, around 13.4 acres of land belonged to the government which was encroached by Rose Valley group and the rest 5.44 acres of land was bought from two tribals, which is illegal because tribal land could not be bought without permission of the government and government permission was not obtained in this case. Chowdhury said legal action was initiated against the Rose Valley group in 2013 for illegally encroaching government lands. - PTI