700-acre deal during Badal govt tenure to be probed: Dhaliwal

: Punjab agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Sunday said that the 700 acres land purchase, situated along the international border in village Ranian of district Amritsar, will be probed.

The agriculture department purchased the land for ₹32 cr to establish a seed farm in 2008.

While addressing the media persons after visiting the land, the minister said that during the Parkash Singh Badal government tenure, when Sucha Singh Langah was the agriculture minister, and Kahan Singh Pannu was the deputy commissioner of district Amritsar, the land was bought at a very high price. “The then government purchased this land in 2008 at ₹4.5 lakh per acre, which is across the Ravi and the barbed wire on the international border and one cannot enter this land without the prior permission of BSF. An investigation will be conducted under which ‘scheme’ was this land purchased”, the minister said.

Dhaliwal added that farmers who sold this land and the prior owners will be questioned to find out the truth.

Expressing concern over the thick and tall growth of elephant grass on the land, which had been cultivated three or four times, Dhaliwal said there was something fishy about how this land was bought at such an exorbitant price. He informed that around ₹8 cr was also spent on purchasing equipment, including 30 submersible tubewells for irrigation, electricity and tractors, generators and other machinery. “I am saddened to see how public money has been misused for this land, which has become barren, and the machinery isn’t in working condition,” he added. Dhaliwal said he would bring this matter to the notice of the chief minister. “The cultivation on this land will be considered after coordinating with the Union government as one needs BSF’S permission to go there,” he added.

THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT PURCHASED THE LAND, SITUATED ALONG THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER, FOR ₹32 CR TO SET UP A SEED FARM IN 2008