Chandigarh, May 20
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema said that the Captain Amarinder Singh-led state government was sitting over the report of statewide encroachments and illegal sale of over 6 lakh acres to save its cronies. He said that the report had claimed massive encroachments in Punjab since 1991 and almost two years after its submission, the Captain government had not taken any action against the encroachers. Even, no department had acknowledged it had the report, he added. In a statement issued on Thursday, Cheema said that the report of massive encroachments in Punjab, submitted to the state government in June 2019, should be made public.
Cheema said that based on the report, FIRs should be registered in the matter. He said that some contents of the report made public earlier had already exposed influential persons, including politicians and police officials, who were the main beneficiaries of the illegal sale of encroached land. “Former Judge SS Saron and ex-DGP Chander Shekhar submitted its report to a Cabinet sub-committee headed by then Urban Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on March 27, 2019 but the recommendations seem to have been forgotten like Captain Amarinder and the Badal family have been protecting each other ever since,” said Cheema.
He said that on the one hand, the Captain government through Vigilance authorities had got registered two FIRs in regard with encroachment and multiple sale of village common land pertaining to 3,700 acres at Majrian and Seonkh villages in Mohali district; whereas the Chander Shekhar report which had claimed of over 6 lakh acres of encroachment, was neglected with no action in the matter. “It has also come to fore that after the Cabinet sub-committee, the investigation report was further submitted to the Ministry of Revenue, vide an email, however the officials of the Revenue Department are claiming of not receiving that report,” added Cheema.
“Not acknowledging having that report and no action by the Captain government till now, despite the report being submitted in 2019, points to some peculation and misappropriation in the massive encroachments that had taken place in the state,” said Cheema. He said that Captain Amarinder Singh had been betraying the people of Punjab with his false promises and it was only under his patronage that the land mafia and other mafias were flourishing in the state. “This report and several other reports in the past has exposed many politicians and police officials as the beneficiaries of various benami deals; but being cronies to the ruling parties whether Congress or the SAD in the past; these encroachers got scot free without facing any action,” he said, adding that both Captain and the Badals had been protecting each other during their rule ever since.
