Mumbai: Ministry of Defence on Monday told the
commission of inquiry probing the Adarsh scam that apart from
the 31-storey Adarsh building in upscale Colaba here, no other
building posed a security threat to the Army installation.
"Apart from Adarsh, no other building poses a threat to
the security of the Army installation. If one goes to the
rooftop of Adarsh building, the entire Army area can be
observed without any restriction," Brigadier Deepak Saxena
from the Army headquarters (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa) stated.
Although there were other high-rises in the vicinity,
those buildings did not have a view of the sensitive Army
installation, the Brigadier told the two-member commission.
When asked by advocate Satish Maneshinde (appearing for
the society) whether the Army objected to Taj Hotel, RBI
building and World Trade Centre which are in the same area,
Saxena said, "To my knowledge so far the Ministry of Defence
has not taken any objection. But all these buildings have been
in existence for the past 50 to 100 years and hence nothing
can be done about them now."
He further said prior to the 1990s, threat-perception was
not high.
"Threat-perception has increased post 1990s. Regarding
other high-rise residential buildings in Colaba area, the Army
conducts regular security audit of all the members and their
antecedents," Saxena said adding that no verification of the
members of Adarsh society had been done yet.
Deposition of Saxena, the first witness to appear before
the commission, would continue tomorrow.
One of the allegations against Adarsh is that the plot
where it stands belonged to the defence ministry and state
government could not have allotted it to the society.
PTI
