Punjab govt faces wrath for deal with Reliance

Chandigarh, May 8 (UNI) The controversial transfer of prime land in Mohali to the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become a major issue with the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP terming the deal as a major scandal in the Congress-led Punjab government.

The senior SAD leaders have even sent a legal notice to the Punjab Chief Secretary and other senior officials concerned to withdraw the deal. They have urged the officials concerned become a party to ''these illegal decisions which are taken at the behest of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh''.

A section in the local media reported today that the Punjab government was out to gift land worth Rs 200 crore to RIL, while a spokesman of the Punjab government has denied the news report.

The SAD leaders, while pointing out the land deals of the state government with the RIL in the legal notice, stated that the Amarinder Singh government was appeasing industrialists at the expense of the farmers and the common man and this would not be tolerated.

SAD president Parkash Singh Badal said while addressing a rally in Muktsar today said the government caused a loss of Rs 1,000 crore to the state exchequer by selling 20 acres of prime land to Reliance for a mere Rs 1.93 crore.

''The Punjab Mandi Board had purchased this prime land about 18 years back at a cost of Rs four crore. Moreover, the transfer of this land to RIL would be in violation of the Mandi Board rules to sell the land to a private party'', Mr Badal added.

''This scam of transfering the prime land in Mohali to Reliance is the latest and the biggest one which runs into thousands of crore of rupees,'' he added.

In a statement issued here, Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna termd the deal as a ''golden hand shake of Rs 1,000 crore between RIL and Capt Singh''.

''The government's misdeeds does not stop here as the its favour to RIL would hurt the state exchequer by Rs 3000 crore as the land acquired by the Punjab State Industries Export Corporation (PSIEC) and Punjab Mandi Board in various towns of the state including areas in Mukatsar, Abohar, Malot, Tanda, Mansa, was being offered at a peanut price,'' Mr Rai said.

Besides, the ''state-sponsored loot'' continued in various districts of the state including the areas of Kulla, Amargarh, Vir Kalan, Dhurkot, Chak Gujra, Mahawa, Nasrali, Bakshiwala, Bhikariwala, Balweda and Jagatpura, where the government is planning to lease out Panchayat lands on meagre returns, he added.

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