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Congress-AAP do a U-turn on leasing out agricultural land in UT periphery
The proposal, however, approved by committee members, including five councillors (two each from AAP and BJP and one from Congress), but was recommended to table the agenda in the House meeting on June 11 for final consideration
City mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, who owes allegiance to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), ordered municipal corporation (MC) officials to withdraw the proposal of leasing out 32 acres of agricultural land in Chandigarh’s four villages, after the AAP and Congress’ councillors took a U-turn on their decision.
Dhalor said, “MC officials had floated the tenders of leasing out the land, even when minutes of the House meeting were yet to be approved. Also, the matter of leasing agricultural land of villages to private parties was discussed in a meeting today and after detailed discussion, thec and AAP leaders, along with newly elected MP Manish Tewari, AAP co-incharge SS Ahluwalia and Congress president HS Lucky, decided to reconsider the proposal. We are not in support of implementing any such plan, which can provide loss to MC.”
Notably, the proposal, backed by Congress and AAP councillors, was being objected to by BJP councillors and even AAP leader Prem Garg.
“We decided to immediately withdraw this proposal as it seemed to be taken without considering all the aspects and needed to be withdrawn,” said HS Lucky, adding that a joint pre-House meeting will be conducted by both the parties before each House meeting to avoid any such decisions.
“The public notice of leasing out the agricultural land has been withdrawn on Tuesday,” municipal commissioner Anindita Mitra said.
The civic body officials had first presented the proposal of leasing out 33 acres of land in the village Chahar Taraf Burail, Khuda Lahora, Khuda Alisher and Dadumajra, on an annual basis at a reserve price set by the committee, during the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting on June 7. The committee of the civic body proposed reserve prices as per local prevailing rates, and said that ₹30,000 per acre per annum will be the reserved price for land in Chahar Taraf Burail; ₹25,000 per acre in Khuda Lahora, ₹35,000 per acre in Khuda Ali and ₹30,000 per acre in Dadumajra.
The proposal, however, approved by committee members, including five councillors (two each from AAP and BJP and one from Congress), but was recommended to table the agenda in the House meeting on June 11 for final consideration.
In the House meeting, the proposal was unanimously passed by the Congress and AAP councillors, when BJP councillors were not present in the House. Notably, BJP councillors had walked out in support of their fellow councillor’s suspension, much before this proposal could be tabled for discussion.
Soon after the plan was approved, BJP councillors and even AAP leader Prem Garg had objected to it.
Senior deputy mayor Kuljeet Singh Sandhu had also written a letter to UT administrator Banwari Lal Purohit and had said, “This is a very serious matter because valuable land worth hundreds of crores, which MC regained after prolonged legal battles, is once again being offered and could potentially be seized. It is widely known that individuals with vested interests take over government properties, making it challenging for authorities to reclaim them, often obtaining legal stays based on their possession claims. Numerous other properties belonging to MC Chandigarh are still unlawfully occupied and entangled in legal disputes”. The BJP councillors had also met UT adviser Rajeev Verma on this regard on Tuesday.
