Amitabh not to donate land in Pale village

Pune, Mar 25: Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has done a volte-face by withdrawing his earlier letter, stating that he wished to donate the 20 acre land in Pale Village in Maval taluka of this district to farmers.

In a letter addressed to Divisional Commissioner Nitin Kareer, the super star, through his lawyer said, ''I myself and on behalf of my son Abhishek request you to kindly treat the matter as closed.'' Mr Bachchan had stated that he wished to donate his land to farmers. This action was initiated after his status of a farmer and related documents were challenged in respect of his land in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh. Wanting to avoid more controversy, he had written to the Divisional Commissioner expressing his desire to ''donate'' the land back to farmers.

However, SDO Maval Sanjaysinh Chavan had written to the Additional Collector in Barabanki to send copies of the orders of the court. ''Till date, the copy of the orders has not been sent,'' he said, adding that he asked Mr Bachchan or his lawyer to be present to update him about the Allahabad High Court order.

Mr Chavan informed that Mr Bachchan withdrew his earlier letter stating, ''We realise that our action and interaction to surrender the land in favour of farmers were based on utterly wrong premises, we therefore unconditionally withdraw our said letter, sent dated July 19, 2007.'' Bachchan got relief after the Allahabad High Court gave him a clean chit. But the state government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court order pointing to irregularities in the land record. The Bachchan's 20 acre land is located in picturesque surroundings in Pale village close to Pavana Dam in Maval, Pune Rural.

UNI