A day after Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu accused “two former Chief Ministers” for “illegally occupying” 900 acres of government land and shamlat in the area of SAS Nagar (Mohali) district adjoining the capital (Chandigarh), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday demanded immediate action from Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The party also asked the State Government to identify the two former Chief Ministers who had encroached land worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore in just one district.
“On the basis of the report of Justice Kuldip Singh Commission, Sidhu had stated that 900 acres of land worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore had been illegally acquired by the families of two former Chief Ministers only. The names of the two former Chief Ministers must have been mentioned in the report, then why is the Congress party and its government refraining from making their names public? Sidhu should also explain why he is reluctant to name these politicians,” said AAP’s Punjab unit president Bhagwant Mann.
Mann said if the Government has the guts to take over the possession by removing the illegal occupations of the “two former Chief Ministers”, the entire debt of all the farmers and farm labourers of Punjab could be compensated, which is amounting to about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
Notably, Justice Kuldip Singh Commission, constituted in 2012, had submitted its report in 2013 to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the illegal and improper occupation of government and communal lands around Chandigarh by politicians, high officials, and other cronies. But despite the passage of eight long years, the Congress and SAD-BJP governments have not shown the courage to act on this report, as these politicians are involved too, said Mann.
Mann said if the illegal occupation of Government and common lands of SAS Nagar (Mohali) by the bigwigs, including eminent politicians and prominent officials, was evacuated and its market value was recovered, loans of farmers, labourers, and the entire debt on Punjab amounting about Rs 3.5 lakh crore could be repaid as according to the report of Justice Kuldip Singh, 25,000 acres of government and common land in Mohali district alone has been either illegally occupied or lands have been misappropriated with the forgery in revenue records.
Mann challenged Sidhu and the Chief Minister Channi to make the names public of all the occupants, including the two former Chief Ministers, and to also inform the people about the time frame for their decisive action. “As long as the names of the two former Chief Ministers are not known to the people, all the former Chief Ministers from Gopi Bhargava to Capt Amarinder Singh and their families could not be free from these serious allegations,” Mann said.
