SAD condemns decision to divert Rs 15 crore from Amritsar Improvement Trust to Patiala Trust
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday condemned the decision of the Local Bodies Department to divert Rs 15 crore from the Amritsar Improvement Trust to the Patiala Improvement Trust. It said that it would adversely affect the development of the holy city and demanded the move be scrapped immediately. It also urged chief minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, to ensure injustice was not done to Amritsar at any cost.
Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said that the Amritsar Improvement Trust had raised Rs 15 crore by selling its properties to complete pending development works. “Transferring this money to the Patiala Improvement Trust will paralyze the functioning of the Amritsar Trust and make it redundant. All development works being undertaken by the Trust will also come to a halt”.
Majithia said that in case the Punjab government wanted to give funds to the Patiala Trust it should earmark funds for the same from the government treasury. “Funds generated from the sale of property in Amritsar cannot be used in Patiala”.
He also dismissed the explanation of Local Bodies minister Brahm Mohindra that this was a soft loan and would be repaid with interest after one and a half years as specious.
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He said that the Punjab government had more than three years to raise funds for Patiala Trust but did not do so. “Now when there is only around one and a half years left for the imposition of the model code of conduct before the 2022 assembly elections making a claim that the money will be returned one month before the State goes to the polls is not believable”.
-PTC News
