Tewari opposes govt's decision to sell PSPCL land in Sarabha Nagar

Asserting that the Akali-BJP government was desperately trying to sell out the state's property, the union information and broadcasting minister, Manish Tewari, on Monday strongly opposed the proposal to sell the prime land belonging to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) at Sarabha Nagar in Ludhiana.

Addressing a public meeting at Shinghar Cinema Road organised by the party councillor Sanjay Talwar, Tewari said the proposal was only a part of the continuous series of desperate bids of the fund-starved state government for mobilising resources by selling family silver for managing its day-to-day affairs.

Questioning the claims of the state government that the place will be used for setting up of commercial hub as shopping complexes, malls and multiplexes, the minister remarked, “as if there is dearth of such places in Ludhiana”.

He pointed out that there were already so many malls, multiplexes and shopping complexes in the city, and there was no point in setting up more.

Tewari said, “This is just an excuse of the state government. Actually the government wants to sell the prime land to some private company to raise money for its day-to-day expenses. Otherwise it defies the logic as why should there be more malls, when the existing ones are going empty.”

Maintaining that the state government was no longer being trusted with loans by the banks, the minister said, “It is quite understandable when nobody trusts you with any money any more, you turn to your family silver and sell it off to raise whatever money you can without caring about the long-term consequences.”

The minister observed, “Given the rate at which the state government was selling its properties, the day will not be far when the state will be left with no property at all. This is a defeatist tendency when government abandons its concern for future and is handicapped by short-term survival concerns.”