The Punjab government on Saturday set up a three-member committee to probe the sale of prime panchayat (village council) land to colonisers by former Congress minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa.
Addressing a Press conference, the panchayat and rural development minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said Bajwa had illegally allowed the selling of panchayat land in village Bhagtupura in district Amritsar even though the Model Code of Conduct was in force due to the Punjab Assembly polls.
He said that the letter for this permission was issued on 11 March 2022 whereas Congress was trounced badly in the Assembly poll results declared a day before on 10 March. Dhaliwal said the former minister and Congress leader had no right to grant permission at that time.
Dhaliwal said Panchayati pathways and water channels were creating a hindrance in the Alfa International city colony which is spread over around 150 acres. He said an Akali sarpanch had also moved a resolution for selling them in 2015. The minister said the former Congress minister had connived with the coloniser and permitted the selling of these pathways and water channels at a meagre price of Rs 43 lakh per acre whereas the market rate was Rs 7.5 Crore.
He said water channels and pathways together constituted 32 Kanal and 16 marle land adding that due to this permission the state has suffered a loss of Rs 28 Crore.
Dhaliwal said Bajwa had no authority as the Model Code of Conduct was in place at that time. He said a three-member team including assistant development commissioner Amit Kumar, assistant director rural development Sarabjit Singh and senior law officer Joharinder Singh Ahluwalia will conduct the probe into the matter.
The minister said all the colonies developed in the last 15 years will be scrutinized and government pathways will be cleared. He said the Punjab government has so far evicted 5500 acres of panchayat land from illegal occupation. Dhaliwal said the Punjab government is committed to providing clean, corruption-free, and transparent administration to the people.