Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority’s (GLADA) road- widening project in Ayali Kalan village might have hit a roadblock with Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) refusing to give consent for acquiring its land which is in the name of Gurdwara Sri Thada Sahib.
A board has been installed at the said land worth crores by the gurdwara management opposing the acquisition.
Earlier, residents of Ayali Kalan had opposed the road widening project stating that around 6 acre (out of 32 acre) of SGPC land is being acquired for the benefit of a private contractor in the area. The width of the road has to be increased from around 20 to 100 feet.
The residents had also submitted a complaint with the SGPC and chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh stating that the land was initially allotted for construction of a hospital, college etc.
Following this, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal had also written to the CM on September 17 to demanding that the land not be acquired.
Villagers Kulwant Kaur and Gurpreet Singh said, “The land cannot be acquired as it is on the name of the gurdwara and was allotted for construction of hospital and college decades back. It is a conspiracy to benefit a private contractor. If a road has to be widened, then land on both sides of the road has to be acquired equally, but here the authorities are only acquiring land at one side. We have also submitted a memorandum with GLADA authorities and gurdwara management has also installed a board at the site against land acquisition.”
{{/usCountry}}Villagers Kulwant Kaur and Gurpreet Singh said, “The land cannot be acquired as it is on the name of the gurdwara and was allotted for construction of hospital and college decades back. It is a conspiracy to benefit a private contractor. If a road has to be widened, then land on both sides of the road has to be acquired equally, but here the authorities are only acquiring land at one side. We have also submitted a memorandum with GLADA authorities and gurdwara management has also installed a board at the site against land acquisition.”
{{/usCountry}}GLADA additional chief administrator (ACA) Bhupinder Singh said, “The road has to be widened and land will be acquired for the same in exchange of the award amount. Few residents have approached us with their demand that the gurudwara land should not be acquired. Till now, we have not received any directions from the state government to stop the project and we will forward the proposal to acquire the land to the state government.”