Senior state Congress leaders today lashed out at Anurag Thakur for converting HPCA into a company from registered society and asked Anurag Thakur to tell the people of the state the reasons behind this move.
Congress leaders including Vice Presidents Harsh Mahajan, Gangu Ram Musafir, General Secretary Harbhajan Singh Bhajji, Spokespersons Naresh Chauhan and Kuldeep Singh Pathania in a joint statement stated that “Anurag Thakur has admitted that HPCA is no longer a society and it is now functioning as a company so he must tell the people of Himachal that what were reasons or intentions for converting it into a company,” Congress leaders said in a joint statement, adding that Thakur owes these answers to not only to the people of the state but also to the crore of cricket fans across India.
They further asked the HPCA president Anurag Thakur to tell the people of the state as to who are the directors of this company and out of these directors, how many belongs to his family and other states. “Anurag Thakur must tell us that how many people were benefited by HPCA by making them its members or how many people were made lifetime members of HPCA who have voting rights and these people belongs to which state,” said the HPCC leaders, adding that Himachal Pradesh government has given 450 kanal land worth Rs 200 crore at Rs 1 lease to HPCA that was registered as a society for the development of sports, and not to any private company.
HPCC leaders further questioned Anurag Thakur to tell the cricket fans as to how much money was given by BCCI and MPs for the construction of stadium and hotel. “He should reveal that how much money was made by organising IPL matches at Dharamshala cricket stadium and how much money, Anurag himself had invested in HPCA,” they said.
They further said that HPCA was granted the land on lease for providing sports persons housing facilities while he constructed a five star hotel on the allotted land by flouting all the rules and without taking permission of cabinet for using the allotted land for commercial purposes.
The HPCC leaders further stated that during the BJP regime, Congress party had submitted a chargesheet on the issue to the President of India in which serious allegations of grabbing government land worth crores of rupees by land mafia in the name of cricket were levelled against HPCA and the party had already its protest on the issue of converting HPCA to a company, from a registered society.
“Anurag Thakur has himself accepted the fact that HPCA is no more a society but now it is company and this move reveals his intention of establishing monopoly on HPCA,” they said, adding that we welcome the step of Himachal government for cancelling the lease of 450 canals of land.
They further stated that by cancelling the lease of the land, the state government has taken a good step as the land belongs to the people of Himachal and it was illegal step on the part of Anurag to convert the society into a company, hence cancelling the lease was the only option left in front of the state government.
They added that the cricketers, cricket fans and people of the state need not worry about the decision as the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had already assured them that the decision won’t affect cricketing activities in the state. “Himachal government is committed for the promotion of cricket and other sports in the state. The cricketing activities will continue as usual in Dharamshala cricket stadium and the successful organisation of Ranji match between Himachal and Goa is live example of this commitment of state government,” they added.
