After notice from bank, Kolianwali starts repaying dues

MUKTSAR:A week after the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank (PADB) issued a recovery notice of ₹79 lakh for repayment of loan to SAD leader Dyal Singh Kolianwali, the former chairman of Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation, paid ₹30 lakh to the Malout branch of the co-operative bank. He also deposited two post-dated cheques of December 31, 2018, of ₹33 lakh and another of ₹32.7 lakh, dated June 30, 2019.

Kolianwali is a close aide of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and was the SAD’s Muktsar president during the SAD-BJP regime.

His name had cropped in the job scam of 2016. In 2017, he was removed as the SAD’s Muktsar president. The bank notice issued to the leader had given him ten days to clear the loan.

Malout cooperative bank manager Akbar Ali said, “Kolianwali has paid ₹30 lakh by cheque. It is 33% of the outstanding. We are hopeful of recovery and it will improve the fiscal condition of the PADB.”

Punjab cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had last month suspended a bank official of the Malout Branch for the latter’s failure to recover the loan from the SAD leader. The minister had also stated that the department would initiate loan recoveries, especially from major defaulters, even if they happened to be politically influential. Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who was in Lambi villages, when questioned, if he knew of the loans in the name of Kolianwali, said, “I am not aware of any kind of loan in the name of Dyal Singh Kolianwali.”