Sidhu asks Punjab govt to disclose names of ‘land mafias’

New Delhi, April 26 (UNI) Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday asked the Punjab Government to disclose the names of those involved in the land scam and said “if the 20 per cent of Illegally occupied Panchayat and Municipal land is reclaimed, Punjab would become a debt-free state”.
In a series of tweets, he said: “Land Scam exposed included, absent records of Lacs of Cr worth Land given on lease by govt; G8 Property tax leakages; Anomalies in Improvement trust records (discovered over 100 Cr in Amritsar alone) No audits; No cash book entries. I urge @CMOPb to look into these also.”
In another tweet, Congress leader said: “lacs Acres Govt lands are illegally occupied. Which includes Village Shamlat, Forest & Irrigation dept land, Municipal Land etc.”
Quoting a report of Dr. Chander Shekhar & Justice Kuldeep Singh’s over the issue, he alleged that it had exposed the nexus and also provided policy suggestions and which haven’t been acted upon.
“Report had a roadmap to take back land & to eradicate Land Mafia by Banning registries, Digitisation, Creating Master data by super imposing Khasra, E-governance & Artificial intelligence. Sadly CM at that time who himself was part of the mafia didn’t act and l stalled it,” he added.
He said he has raised the issue several times categorically over the years that “land Mafia was aided by Politicians, Bureaucrats & Govt employees”.
” It is the biggest scam in Punjab, lacs of crores. If AAP Govt is really serious they should name everyone involved in it, mere photo ops and announcements aren’t enough,” he added.