Now, land allotted by Ludhiana Improvement Trust for BJP office under lens

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, September 15

The ruling Congress has hit back and retorted to allegations by BJP leaders about alleged irregularities in the e-auction of a commercial site in Model Town Extension by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) last month. It has demanded a probe in the allotment of land for the BJP office in the city.

During the previous SAD-BJP regime, the then LIT Chairman Dr Subhash Verma (of the BJP) had allotted a 1,000-sq yard land in Model Town Extension at a concessional price of just Rs 4,375 per sq yard, which was many times low than the then prevailing market price.

In a counter-attack on the BJP and SAD, that had been targeting the Congress government for the sale of the prime land to an industrial house and realtor at a throwaway price, senior Congress leader and former councillor Parminder Mehta has alleged that the BJP had purchased the land under political pressure.

“The said piece of land was meant for commercial purpose but BJP leaders had got the land use changed and thereafter, got it allotted at a nominal price,” Mehta said.

Mehta ridiculed the BJP leaders for questioning the sale of land through e-aucion by the LIT at a price of over Rs 60,000 per sq yards during the previous month in the same locality where the land for its office was allotted to BJP at less than 1/10th of this price. He asserted that the allegations of corruption and financial irregularities being levelled by the BJP and other opposition parties were politically motivated as these parties were making a desperate bid to distract the attention of people from real issues concerning the public.

He said a complaint to this effect had been lodged with the Additional Chief Secretary, Local Government, Punjab, the Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana, and the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, demanding a high-level probe into the allotment of the land to the BJP, which had cause a financial loss of several crores to the exchequer.

Mehta said his complaint lodged with the DGP, Punjab Police, had been marked to the Joint Commissioner (Hq) of Police in the Ludhiana Police Commissionerate for further necessary action as per a communication received by him from the Punjab Police headquarters.

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