Papri village panchayat accuses Mohali MLA of grabbing land

The members of Papri village panchayat said the Supreme Court had stayed the occupation of the panchayat land, yet the Mohali MLA, by taking advantage of his power, got illegal constructions done

Members of the gram panchayat of Papri village, Mohali, have accused AAP MLA from Mohali, Kulwant Singh, of illegally occupying around 6 acres of village land for his mega project in Sectors 66-A and 82.

Members of the gram panchayat of Papri village addressing the media in Mohali on Wednesday. (HT Photo)

While addressing mediapersons on Wednesday, sarpanch Kulwinder Kaur, former sarpanch Gurjit Singh, and panchayat members Bachan Singh, Amarjeet Singh and Mahinder Singh alleged that on the one hand, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann was trying to reclaim shamlat land under illegal occupation, on the other hand, an MLA of his own government had grabbed panchayat land at Papri village.

The panchayat members said the Supreme Court had stayed the occupation of the panchayat land, yet the MLA, by taking advantage of his power, got illegal constructions done.

Sarpanch Kulwinder said the MLA had laid roads and sewerage on the occupied land, apart from erecting electricity poles and transformers.

Panch Bachan Singh alleged that the MLA was also pressurising the police to file false cases against them, and they had written to the chief minister and panchayat secretary for relief.

Terming the panchayat’s allegations false and baseless, MLA Kulwant Singh said the matter was pending in court and refused to comment further.