Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal submits Amritsar land scam report to Punjab CM

Chandigarh, July 28

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal today submitted the report on the Amritsar land scam to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

The minister confirmed the development and said one former Cabinet minister and two IAS officers were involved in the case and it was CM’s prerogative to take action.

He said the department would start disciplinary proceedings against two deputy directors of the department.

The matter pertains to Bhagtupura village in Amritsar district, where 42 kanal and 16 marla of prime panchayat land was given to Alpha International City Colony at throwaway prices.

Earlier, The Tribune had reported that the inquiry report had found that ‘unnecessary haste’ was shown by former minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa and two IAS officers in giving the panchayat land to a private developer even when the model code of conduct was in force and the ruling Congress had already lost the elections.

Two deputy directors — Joginder Kumar and Jagwinderjit Singh Sandhu — were also indicted in the inquiry for fixing low collector rate and ‘gifting’ 10 kanal land to the private developer by misguiding the department.

The blame is on…

• Tripat Rajinder Bajwa: The former Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats gave approval on March 11, when he was just part of a caretaker government for transaction of routine business
• Rahul Bhandari: The former Financial Commissioner, Rural Development and Panchayats, forwarded the file ‘personally’ to the minister on March 11, who gave approval the same day
• Jagwinderjit Sandhu: The Deputy Director, Rural Development and Panchayats, facilitated the developer to grab land worth Rs 51.11 lakh without paying a single rupee

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Rural Development & Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal submitted report of investigation team into Village Bhagatupura land scam in Amritsar to CM @BhagwantMann. Cabinet Minister said that the Panchayat Department had constituted three-member investigation team on May 20.

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– Government of Punjab (@PunjabGovtIndia) 28 July 2022