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Chandigarh, January 31: The Punjab government has dismissed as totally baseless, fabricated and malicious the allegations of Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira against Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in the matter of land purchase in Siswan Village area of Mohali.
Lashing out at Khaira for spreading mischievous and deceitful propaganda on the issue, the Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Raveen Thukral on Tuesday disclosed that the land purchased by Captain Amarinder was not in Palanpura, as was being projected, but in Siswan, which had been denotified by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) way back in 2011.
Thukral pointed out that the plot stopped being covered under PLPA since it was denotified on Aug 24, 2011, by then Financial Commissioner and Secretary to Govt. of Punjab, Department of Forests & Wildlife Preservation. Khaira should have done his homework and got his facts right before resorting to wild allegations, said Thukral.
Khaira was, as usual, engaging in brazenly unfounded and spiteful personal attacks on the Chief Minister by resorting to blatant falsehoods, said Thukral, adding that the allegations of Conflict of Interest and breach of oath of office and secrecy, made by the AAP leader, smacked of cheap and dirty politicking. All AAP leaders were used to indulging in petty and deceitful street politics in a bid to seize political mileage, and Khaira was simply following his party norm, said Thukral.
Except for Khasra numbers 174 and 175 (which amounted to 3 Bighas and 19 Biswas), the remaining land, measuring 24 Bighas and 6 Biswas, had been denotified in 2011. The two Khasras that are still under PLPA can only be used for forestation, Thukral disclosed, in a statement issued here.
So there was no question of any violation of the law, said Thukral, while adding that, in any case, the primary purpose of the purchase by the Chief Minister was agricultural, with a cottage being planned for construction as a farmhouse. The bulk of the plot, even though not covered by PLPA, would have a tree cover, as envisioned by Captain Amarinder, said the Media Advisor.
Captain Amarinder had full regard for the law of the land and had always adhered to it in all matters, whether personal or professional, Thukral said, asserting that the entire deal was complete above board with not an iota of subterfuge involved in it.
Giving further details of the land purchase, for which the Chief Minister had followed all due legal norms and procedures, the Media Advisor said that it was duly registered under the concerned Tehsil in Captain Amarinder’s own name. The Chief Minister would also be taking all the necessary permissions, as required under the law, for building the proposed cottage on the purchased land as and when the time for construction comes, said Thukral.
The Media Advisor cited the 2011 notification, which clearly stated that consequent to the delisting, “the restrictions, regulations and prohibitions imposed under Section 4 & 5 of PLPA, 1900, shall cease to be applicable in the delisted areas as detailed in Annexure -1 of this notification.” Siswan was clearly included in the list of the delisted areas under the notification No. 39/11/2011-FT-3/6827, said Thukral, exposing Khaira’s spiteful untruths and his deliberate attempt at misleading the people of Punjab.
Bereft of any meaningful political issues against the government, the opposition, led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was resorting to shameful mis-propaganda as part of its destructive politics, Thukral asserted.
