SAD not against mega projects if all goes well: Sukhbir

Chandigarh, Apr 22 (UNI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today clarified that it was not against the mega urban development projects in Punjab if the deals with the investors in this regard were fair by all means.

''We (SAD) are not against such mega projects undertaken by the Punjab government but the problem is that the entire process of giving a nod to such projects was a big financial scandal,'' SAD general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal said at a press conference here.

It may be recalled that SAD president Parkash Singh Badal had earlier ridiculed the Amarinder Singh government for the township and housing projects on the agricultural land in the state in his press statements following the cabinet nod to such projects.

Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal today alleged that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had been bribed by several companies who were allotted lands and various incentives for raising new townships and housing complexes in the state.

The SAD general secretary also accused the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh of hampering the CBI inquiry into the multi-crore Forest Hill Resort scandals.

Pointing out that the Chief Minister and his family members were also the members of the highly controversial Forest Hill Resort (FHR) on the city outskirts, Mr Badal said that Capt Singh should also be booked by the CBI as one of the main accused in the scandal.

He further alleged that the Punjab Chief Minister was now using the high offices of the ruling Congress in Delhi to hamper the CBI investigations into the FHR scandal.

Regarding the CBI raids at the premises of senior IAS officer B S Sidhu, Mr Badal stated that Mr Sidhu had only been instrumental in collecting bribe money on behalf of the Chief Minister and other high ups in the government.

''The real culprit against whom the CBI should start investigations is the Chief Minister in the Forest Hill Resort scam,'' the Akali leader said.

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