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Sidhu alleges ₹500 crore fraud in Jalandhar, Amritsar civic bodies
“There are a number of properties given on lease at prices as low as ₹5 or ₹50 that too without any agreement or any tenure,” said the minister.
Local bodies minister Navjot Sidhu on Thursday alleged that the forensic audit has unearthed frauds worth over ₹500 crore in the improvement trusts and municipal corporations of Jalandhar and Amritsar.
Sidhu was interacting with the media after paying a surprise visit to the Jalandhar Improvement Trust, where he held a closed-door meeting with the officials for about two hours. Local legislators, including Pargat Singh (Cantonment), Rajinder Beri (Central) and Avtar Henry Junior (North), mayor Jagdish Raj and chairman of the trust, who is also the municipal corporation commissioner, Diprava Lakra, were also present in the meeting, while Jalandhar West MLA Sushil Rinku skipped the meeting.
Addressing the media, Sidhu said financial irregularities worth ₹225 crore have been detected in the audit of Amritsar civic body, while discrepancies totalling ₹250 crore have been unearthed in Jalandhar, which include 120 files of the locally displaced persons (LDPs) whom the trust was to give land in lieu of acquiring his/her land.
“The land was given to people whose land was not even acquired,” he said.
“The SAD-BJP alliance rule had turned these civic bodies into the den of corruption. To facilitate corruption, these bodies have been using the single entry system, which was abandoned by the western countries long ago, and have not been maintaining the cashbooks,” Sidhu said.
Sidhu said that prime properties in these cities were either allowed to be encroached upon or were given on lease to some people at throwaway prices without any proper agreement. “There are a number of properties given on lease at prices as low as ₹5 or ₹50 that too without any agreement or any tenure,” he said.
“Another shocking thing is the files pertaining to fraud are either missing, declared burned or damaged by termite. There are 200 files kept in almirah and only a particular file was found attacked by the termite or burnt,” Sidhu said .
“I am giving a week to the officials to provide the records and cooperate with the audit team, otherwise they will be suspended,” he said.
Pointing out a instance, Sidhu said Amritsar Improvement Trust officials had kept ₹78 crore in the current account for over 10 years. “If this amount was kept in the fixed deposit or any other saving plan, the money could have rise to RS 200 crore,” he said.
Sidhu said that this was strange that in last ten years not even a single audit was done. Listing out the measures to be initiated by the state government to check such discrepancies, Sidhu said e-governance is the only answer.
BJP gherao Sidhu
BJP activists on Thursday gheraoed local Sidhu outside the improvement trust office. Protesters didn’t let Sidhu’s car enter the premises and police had to intervene. The protesters raised slogans against Sidhu and the Congress government over the poor road conditions in Jalandhar and rising drug menace.
