The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been raising voice against the ill-practices and misconducts carried out by the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh-led state government, time and again. However, from illegal factories, mining, transportation, to illicit liquor and drug trade, Captain Amarinder Singh had been running a 'mafia' rule in the state and himself was working as the 'kingpin'. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema, said that while today the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government wants to destroy farmers and agriculture, Captain Amarinder Singh, on the other hand was looting Punjab at the hands of all kinds of 'mafias'.
Cheema said that everything was mushrooming under the patronage of Captain Amarinder Singh and other Congress leaders and it was only because of him, that no action was taken till now in several matters pertaining to illegal trades, that involves his party leaders. He said that after the sale of state-owned Punjab Alkalies Chemicals Limited (PACL) in Nangal by the Punjab government at rock bottom prices, another huge scam of Punjab Infotech has come to fore. Plot number A-32, Phase-8, Industrial Area, Mohali for 31 Acres was allotted by Punjab Infotech to JCT Ltd in September 1984. The unit was now sold by the official liquidator. Cheema said that it was staggering as to why the MD of Punjab Infotech, acted as a mute spectator and allowed the sale of the property for mere Rs 95 crore for 31 acres, whereas the net worth of the prime location was more than Rs 400 crore.
"An asset management company was made as a facade to purchase the prime property from the official liquidator and then pass it on to the close associates of the Punjab Industries Minister Sham Sunder Arora. The buyer of 31 acres of prime land, paid only 50% of the sale price that is Rs 45 crore," he said. Lashing out at Punjab Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora for making money by selling government stakes, Cheema said that on one hand Congress was destroying the government and cooperative sectors and on the other hand was pretending to be benevolent to the farmers and common man.
"The details of Rs 45 crore entry will prove the shareholdings and would also determine the conflict of interest of the Punjab Cabinet Minister through his associates, which is now openly known in the public domain. To fill the houses of their loved ones, Punjab Industries Minister after selling Nangal's multi-crore PACL industry for mere Rs 40 crore, has now sold Punjab Infotech, thus making loss to the state exchequer" he added. Cheema said that this scam was happening with the active connivance of board of directors of Punjab Infotech, which mostly are Chief Minister's cronies; without receiving the transfer fees of more than Rs 60 crore.
He further said that the map of more than 150 plots, without demarcating the green belt in that area was published in the public domain with the connivance of Punjab Infotech, which is against RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority). "The division of a single plot number A-32 into multi plots is not permissible under law. The rules and regulations are being altered ruthlessly and files are being sent to PSIEC with indecent haste to get the job done. Interestingly the PSIEC is also under the direct control of the Punjab Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora," said Cheema.
He said that the land mafia group were selling this property unabatedly, under the directions of Captain government. "It is surprising as to why Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is silent over such blatant plunder of the state wealth? The matter should be thoroughly investigated and action should be taken against Minister Sunder Sham Arora and his associates for their involvement in the scam," he added. On the occasion, district incharge Rajwinder Kaur, senior leader Dr Shiv Dayal Mali, Atam Parkash Bablu, Ramneek Randhawa , district media incharge Tarandip Sunny, social media incharge Sanjeev Bhagat, Ajay Thakur, Raman Kumar, among others were present.