Inquiry finds violations in panchayat land allocation to private coloniser in Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, July 14

A three-member fact-finding committee has found that there were serious violations of procedure, undermining panchayat authority and lower price fixation while allocating panchayat land to a private coloniser in Amritsar.

The committee was constituted last month to probe the alleged scam of handing over prime panchayat land to colonisers at throwaway prices during the previous Congress government.

Was given to coloniser by cong govt

• The issue pertains to Bhagtupura village in Amritsar district, where 32 kanal and 16 marla of panchayat land was given to private coloniser Alfa International City Colony even though the model code of conduct was in force
• According to sources, the committee has stated in its report that the coloniser was charged as per the two-year-old collector rate, which led to a significant loss to the public exchequer

The issue pertains to Bhagtupura village in Amritsar district, where 32 kanal and 16 marla of panchayat land was given to private coloniser Alfa International City Colony even though the model code of conduct was in force.

According to sources, the committee has stated in its report that the coloniser was charged as per the two-year-old collector rate, which led to a significant loss to the public exchequer.

The sources said though Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Kuldeep Dhaliwal had claimed that the deal led to a loss of Rs 28 crore, the report has no mention of any such figure.

Apart from that, officials of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department went ahead with the allocation of land with the resolution of just Panchayat Prabandhak instead of getting a resolution passed from the current panchayat.

It has also been found that the department went ahead with the allocation of land despite the law officer giving an opinion against the move. Another important point was how permission was granted by the minister on March 11 when the Congress government had lost elections a day earlier. The committee has referred the matter for legal opinion. The minister did not take calls despite repeated attempts.

Significantly, last month, during a press conference in Amritsar, Dhaliwal had alleged that his predecessor Tript Rajinder Bajwa connived with colonisers to give prime land of the department at meagre prices. Following that, he had constituted a committee to probe the alleged scam, which was led by Joint Development Commissioner, Rural Development and Panchayats, Amit Kumar, Assistant Director, Rural Development, Sarabjit Singh and senior law officer Joharinder Singh Ahluwalia.

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