Chandigarh – Senior congress leader and Punjab’s leader of the opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday has demanded strict action against Mohali Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kulwant Singh who is facing Enforcement Directorate (ED) & Punjab Vigilance Bureau probe for panchayat land grab worth crores.
Bajwa said it was all the more disturbing to know that Punjab’s Rural development and Panchayat Minister Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal actually scuttled the move at the eleventh hour to reclaim the panchayat land which has been lying in possession of the builders & real estate developers for more than 10 years.
It was apparent that Dhaliwal succumbed to the pressure and influence wielded by his own party MLA Kulwant Singh.
Bajwa while referring to the media reports published last year in the month of December revealed how 80 acres of Panchayat land in the Mohali district had been grabbed by the influential real estate developers worth more than Rs. 500 crore.
Bajwa said among the 20 odd real estate companies Janta Land Promoters Limited (JLPL) owned by AAP MLA Kulwant Singh figured prominently in the media reports for grabbing over 15 acres of prime panchayat land.
Bajwa said the grabbed land mainly pertained to paths and water channels which once connected agricultural fields and were owned by the panchayats.
As per the policy of the mega housing projects the land should have been acquired by the state government before handing it over to the developers and the revenue generated from it should have gone to the panchayats for various developmental works.
However these realtors including AAP MLA Kulwant Singh till date have not paid charges to the government and have been illegally occupying the panchayat land.
Bajwa said after the publication of reports though ED and VB have initiated a probe against AAP MLA Kulwant Singh and other realtors but the same were going on at a snail’s pace while the leaders from other political parties were being summoned by the investigating agencies regularly.
Bajwa said though former cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari was dropped from the cabinet no probe has been initiated against him for indulging in corruption. Similarly people have no idea what happened to the probe against former health minister Dr. Vijay Singla who was also dropped from the cabinet by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann because of corruption.
