Kumaria refutes allegations of illegal possession of Shastri Hall

After facing allegations of having illegally occupied the Shastri Badminton Hall for 15 years, Anupam Kumaria addressed mediapersons on on Saturday to present his side.

“The word illegal possession implies being in possession of the land without legal right or consent of the owner but if 300 people are using the hall through the day, various tournaments are being conducted here and the electricity bill is being paid by the Municipal Corporation. Furthermore, MC Commissioners, MLAs and MPs are attending prize distribution ceremonies here how does it imply illegal possession?” questioned Kumaria.

He said the MC Commisioner and SDM East conducted a detailed enquiry and had held that they had not found any financial irregularity and had further referred the matter to the EO wing. Kumaria claimed that under the renovation project maple wood was approved to be used for the courts. The complainant, who lodged an FIR against the office-bearers of Ludhiana Badminton Association, Anand Tiwari approached the contractor (a relative of Tiwari) who was renovating the Shastri Hall under the Smart City Project. At the behest of Tiwari, the contractor supplied low-quality jungle pine wood instead of the promised maple wood. Jungle pine wood is cheaper than maple wood. The newly constructed courts were ruined in two months due to termites and then Tiwari approached him to not report the matter to the authorities and to allow him to repair the courts. “In order to save himself, Tiwari lodged a complaint against me and levelled baseless allegations,” said Kumaria.