Eyebrows raised over LIT posting

LUDHIANA: Taking exception to new posting of DC Garg as executive officer of LIT (from Amritsar), who was among 19 persons named in the infamous City Centre scam, the BJP has shot off a letter to the Punjab Local Bodies Minister to lodge its protest against the posting of Garg, who is still facing trial in the case.

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, May 31

Taking exception to new posting of DC Garg as executive officer of LIT (from Amritsar), who was among 19 persons named in the infamous City Centre scam, the BJP has shot off a letter to the Punjab Local Bodies Minister to lodge its protest against the posting of Garg, who is still facing trial in the case.

The then executive officer of the Trust, DC Garg, along with the superintending engineer Manmohan Singh, were arrested by the Vigilance Bureau after the City Centre scam surfaced during the Congress regime in early 2007. Following their arrest by the bureau, both officials were placed under suspension and reinstated after almost two years. A charge sheet has already been filed by the bureau in the court against all 19 accused and a probe by the Enforcement Directorate is under way.

In a letter to the Punjab Local Bodies Minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu, the vice-president of district unit of the BJP, Parminder Mehta, has said the tall claims of the Congress government to provide transparent governance and root out corruption stood exposed after the posting of Garg in LIT.

Claiming that the so-called operation clean-up of the Local Bodies Minister was a farce, he said an official facing trial in an infamous scam worth around Rs 1,100 crore had been posted at Ludhiana where the scam had taken place. He has demanded the official be kept away from the city till the court delivered its verdict in the case.

Meanwhile, Garg asserted that his posting at Ludhiana would have no bearing on the trial which had been going on for the past eight years. “My suspension was revoked in 2009 and thereafter I have been serving in various improvement trusts across the state,” he said, adding that opposition to his posting in LIT was a result of internal politics of the Trust.

Transfers and postings

DC Garg, Executive Officer from Amritsar to Ludhiana; SS Jakhar, Superintending Engineer from Patiala to Ludhiana; Jagdev Singh, Engineer from Ludhiana to Amritsar; Raminderpal Singh, Engineer from Amritsar to Ludhiana; Barjinder Mohan, Engineer from Amritsar to Ludhiana; and Buta Ram, Engineer from Ludhiana to Amritsar.