Capt slams govt’s plan to set up helipad on PAU research land

Punjab Pradesh Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Monday criticised the state government’s proposed decision to construct a permanent helipad

Punjab Pradesh Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Monday criticised the state government’s proposed decision to construct a permanent helipad on the research land in the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Amarinder said, in case the Akali government goes ahead with the decision, he will scrap it after the Congress forms the government in 2017 and will return the land to the PAU for research. (HT Photo)

“This reflects extreme level of insensitivity of the government towards agricultural research, when it is required the most,” he said in a statement issued in Chandigarh.

Amarinder said, in case the Akali government goes ahead with the decision, he will scrap it after the Congress forms the government in 2017 and will return the land to the PAU for research.

The former chief minister said, there was no point in constructing a permanent helipad in the PAU and that too, on a land meant for research, when helicopters have already been landing in the PAU ground.

This is simply wastage of scarce resources the state has, besides taking away precious research land from the PAU, he said.

Referring to frequent transfer of PAU land for other purposes, the state Congress chief wondered over the wisdom of the government asking, “what is the point in having an agricultural university when you are taking away the research land from it for totally different purposes?”