Chandigarh: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Thursday registered a criminal case against former minister Sunder Sham Arora, IAS Neelima and 10 government officers for transferring of an industrial plot to a realtor company and allowing it establish township by cutting plots.

In this case three partners of a realtor firm, Gulmohar Township Private Limited have also been booked.

In this case the VB has arrested seven officials of PSIDC which included Ankur Chaudhary Estate Officer, Davinderpal Singh GM Personnel, JS Bhatia chief general manager (Planning), Ashima Aggarwal ATP (Planning), Parminder Singh Executive Engineer, Rajat Kumar DA and Sandeep Singh SDE for conniving with each other to provide undue benefit to the realtor firm.

Officials said that the Punjab Government had allotted 25 acres of land to Anand Lamps Limited through a sale deed in the year 1987 which was later transferred to a firm named Signify Innovations. This plot was then sold to Gulmohar Township through a sale deed by the Signify Innovations after procuring no objection certificate from the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC). On 17-03-2021, then industry and commerce minister Sundar Sham Arora forwarded a letter to then MD PSIDC received from Gulmohar Township for further bifurcation of plots.

He further informed that the MD PSIDC has constituted a departmental committee to examine the proposal of this realtor firm which included SP Singh Executive Director, Ankur Chaudhary Estate Officer, Bhai Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu, Davinderpal Singh GM Personnel, Tejveer Singh DTP, (deceased), JS Bhatia chief general manager (Planning), Ashima Aggarwal ATP (Planning), Parminder Singh Executive Engineer, Rajat DA and Sandeep Singh SDE.

The committee headed by SP singh had approved the proposal of above said realtor firm to bifurcate plots from 12 plots to 125 plots without taking notice of proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association in this regard. In addition to this, the said committee had recommended the proposal of Gulmohar Township without consulting Punjab Pollution Control Board, Municipal Corporation, Electricity Board, Forest Department, State Fire Brigade etc.

During investigation by the Forensic Science Laboratory, it has also been found that two pages of the noting on file didn’t match with the rest of the pages attached in file. It was found that the above said committee members have attached fake documents and didn’t not scrutinised the said application/proposal thoroughly.

The spokesperson further added that according to the deed of 1987, this plot was to be used for industrial purposes only and the said Gulmohar Township has no such background.

He further added that according to the rules of the PSIDC, the fee for plots was to be charged at the rate of Rs. 20 per yard and Rs. 3 per year from the year 1987, which was a total fee of Rs.1,51,25,000 for a total of 1,21,000 square yards. It was astonishing that the accused firm had already attached pay order of Rs 27,83,000 with the application while no one from the PSIDC had demanded it. Due to which the Punjab Government has incurred a financial loss of Rs. 1,23,42,000.

He informed that during the probe it was found that if this plot was to be sold as per the instructions/rules of the state government, the government would have got an income of 600 to 700 crores. At the time of sale of 125 plots by Gulmohar Township, no proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association were demanded from any buyer and sold all the plots illegally.

He informed that by doing this, the above committee members including Neelima, then MD and former minister Sundar Sham Arora colluded with each other and misused their official positions to give unfair advantage to the owners/directors of Gulmohar Township Company Jagdeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Rakesh Kumar Sharma.

The post Former Congress minister, IAS among 12 booked in industrial plot transfer case in Punjab appeared first on TV Punjab | English News Channel.

Chandigarh: Congress has been surrounded once again under the anti-corruption campaign by the Punjab government. Due to this, former minister Vijay Indira Singla is now on the vigilance radar. Vigilance has started the investigation of tenders allotted to PWDs in the previous Congress government.

According to the information received, 5 close associates of former minister Vijay Indira Singla have been summoned on September 5. After the preliminary investigation, the investigation has been handed over to the Vigilance Officer of the DSP post of Sangrur.

The PWD tenders allocation case is being investigated on the complaint of contractors, who alleged that rules were bypassed to allocate tenders to their friends in the previous government. The AAP government is scrutinizing tender files worth 5 crores and probing how and what caused the financial loss to the government.

Earlier, two former ministers of Congress in Punjab Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Bharat Bhushan Ashu are in jail in the case of corruption. While Sangat Singh Giljian is out on bail. It is being said that the former CM Captain Amarinder is also on the government’s radar in the agricultural machinery scam of around 150 crores.

The post Another former Congress minister Singla on vigilance’s radar in tender allocation process appeared first on TV Punjab | English News Channel.

Chandigarh: Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal today said that a three member committee will probe into the scam of handing over prime panchayat land to colonisers by former Congress Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa.

The Minister while addressing a press conference said that the former Rural Development Minister Bajwa had illegally allowed selling of Panchayat land in village Bhagtupura in district Amritsar even though Model Code of Conduct was in force. He said that the letter for this permission was issued on March 11,2022 whereas Congress was trounced badly in the results declared a day before. Dhaliwal said that the former Minister and Congress leader had no right to grant permission at that time.

The Minister said that these Panchayati pathways and water channels were creating a hindrance in Alfa International city colony which is spread over around 150 acres. He said that an Akali sarpanch had also moved a resolution for selling them in 2015. Dhaliwal said that former Congress Minister had connived with the coloniser and permitted selling of these pathways and water channels at meagre price of Rs 43 lakh per acre whereas the market rate was RS 7.5 crore.

The Minister said that water channels and path ways together constituted 32 kanal and 16 marle land adding that due to this permission state has suffered a loss of Rs 28 crore. He said that Bajwa had no authority as Model Code of Conduct was in place at that time. Dhaliwal said that 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 that all the colonies developed in last 15 years will be scrutinised and government pathways will be cleared. He said that Punjab government has so far evicted 5500 acres of panchayti land from illegal occupation. Dhaliwal said that the Punjab government is committed for providing clean, corruption free and transparent administration to people.

The post Former Congress minister connived with colonisers to give prime land of department on meagre prices: Minister Dhaliwal appeared first on TV Punjab | English News Channel.