Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra on Saturday condemned a Punjab government move to merge the municipal councils of Kharar and Zirakpur with the Mohali municipal corporation.
Addressing a Press conference, Prof Chandumajra said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was trying to usurp extremely valuable land as well as monetary resources of the Kharar and Zirakpur municipal committees by proposing to merge them with the Mohali municipal corporation.
He said while the Kharar municipal committee has 750 acres of land, the Zirakpur committee has 250 acres of land. “Both committees have hundreds of crores in monetary resources,” the SAD leader added.
He said since AAP did not have direct control over both municipal committees, it wanted to dissolve them and merge them with the Mohall Corporation. “By doing so it can take advantage of the land pool of the both committees which will be handed over to Greater Mohali Area Development Authority ( GMADA) and the money earned will be diverted for pet AAP projects,” Prof Chandumajra.
He said the SAD would oppose this proposal tooth and nail. “Ordinary people would be most affected. While the inner towns of both committees would suffer as they would be ignored, people would not be able to take advantage of affordable housing with the entire land parcels in both Committees being handed over to GMADA,” Prof Chandumajra said.
Asking the AAP government to first develop Mohali, the SAD leader said no development has been done in Mohali since the last more than one year. “Even provision for rain water disposal has not been made till now. Moreover several villages like Balongi, Badmajra and Jujhar Nagar have not been taken into the ambit of the Corporation. Instead of merging Kharar and Zirakpur with the Mohali Corporation, the government should first merge these left out areas into the Corporation,” he added.