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Mohindra orders inquiry into use of Tarn Taran trust funds for works at Anil Joshi’s village
Mohindra said the funds were diverted at the behest of Joshi in violation of the provisions of Punjab Town Improvement Trust Act -922, according to which money meant for urban development can’t be spent in rural area
Local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra on Wednesday initiated an inquiry into diversion of ₹ 82.2 lakh from Tarn Taran improvement trust for development works in the then local bodies minister Anil Joshi’s ancestral village, Sanghe, during the previous Akali-BJP regime in 2015.
Mohindra said the funds were diverted at the behest of Joshi in violation of the provisions of Punjab Town Improvement Trust Act -922, according to which money meant for urban development can’t be spent in rural area. “Those found in the wrong on duty will face action,” he said.
Joshi said: “Sanghe is my ancestral village and I spent funds where I was born, and grew up. It was my discretion as a minister and moral duty as resident of that village. I think, I have done no wrong.”
As per details available with local bodies department, ₹ 29.4 lakh were spent on the village’s ‘firni’ (perimeter road), ₹31.5 lakh on village’s nullah and ₹21.3 lakh on an inner road.
“With the orders of local bodies minister (Anil Joshi) development works were carried in the past in Sanghe village. Now, the minister has again given verbal orders to complete pending works. The agenda item has also got technical approval,” reads the official order of November 20, 2015.
The inquiry was initiated two days after a move to shift ₹15 crore from Amritsar Improvement Trust to cash-strapped Patiala Improvement Trust was opposed by none other than Joshi. Mohindra had proposed the transfer of funds for development of chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s and his own constituency – Patiala and Patiala-II. “How can they shift the money meant for development of the holy city to CM’s bastion,” Joshi had said on Monday.
“In previous government funds meant for urban development were spent on rural works. The then (local bodies) minister (Anil Joshi) has no moral right to point a finger on the functioning of my department,” said Mohindra.
‘₹27 crore diverted Patiala trust between 2008-13’
Mohindra said during the Akali-BJP government (between 2008-2013), a sum of ₹ 27 crore of Patiala Improvement Trust was diverted. “₹2 crore went to improvement trust of Malerkotla and ₹25 crore to Patiala municipal corporation. This time Patiala Improvement Trust will pay interest on ₹15 crore it proposes to take from Amritsar trust which didn’t happen earlier,” said Mohindra, adding “there is law, practice and precedence of one civic body supporting the other, but not of spending on works in rural parts”.
