Now, Bajwa backs Baring college, writes to CM seeking probe

BATALA: Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa has come in the support of the management of Baring Union Christian College, Batala, on a controversy over the administration’s alleged attempt to encroach upon the institution’s land by constructing a link road cutting across its playground.

On January 16, revenue and public works department (PWD) officials entered the college campus without prior notice for demarcation of the proposed road, it was alleged. Recently, some Christian leaders and former Batala MLA Ashwani Sekhri too also backed the institution’s management.

In a letter to Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Bajwa said some persons with ulterior motives are trying to target the minority institution that has been serving the people of the area for many decades by grabbing its property. Demanding a thorough probe into the matter, he alleged that some mischievous elements want to malign the Congress government’s image.

Batala sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Balwinder Singh said it was found that the college authorities had encroached upon the land. “Over the past years, the college authorities built a wall and merged a portion of the land meant for the road with that of the playground. The municipal corporation (MC) had even issued a notice to the college o clarify land ownership but the management did not respond,” he said.

“A team of the revenue and PWD officials was denied entry when they went to the college to measure the land. The matter was brought to the notice of senior officials and the district administration has called the

› Some people with ulterior motives are trying to target the minority institution that has been serving the people of the area for many decades by grabbing its property.

PARTAP SINGH BAJWA, RS MP

college management to submit ownership documents,” the SDM added.

College property manger Daniel B Dass condemned the attempt to grab the land by misuse of government machinery. “It is the government’s duty to provide resources to educational institutions so that they can grow. The local administration is working at the behest of some politicians and businessmen,” he claimed.

Recently, former Sekhri has accused the administration of bid to grab land at the behest of a senior state minister. He has also staged a dharna against the administration along with his supporters.

“Without any prior notice, officials of the revenue and the public works department have started acquiring land that has been under the control of Baring Union Christian College for 50 years,” the Congress leader had said.