Former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s Land Deal under A Cloud, Gets Vigilance Dept Notice

The Punjab Office of Vigilance has sent a notice to former State Finance Minister and BJP leader Manpreet Singh Badal, asking him to appear before him on Monday. Senior vigilance officials said the notice has been issued to Manpreet on a complaint lodged by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Sarup Chand Singla in connection with the purchase of PUDA commercial land at low price in Model Town, Phase 1, Bathinda. Incidentally, Singla had also recently crossed over to the BJP.

Singla claimed that the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) map showed the land as commercial, but Manpreet, using his power as the then Finance Minister, converted it into residential.

In 2005-06, the auction of this commercial land was completed at Rs 75,000-90,000 per sqft but was later cancelled.

However, in 2021, instead of auctioning the land, Manpreet, in collusion with the officials, acquired the land in his name at a low price, as alleged by the complainant.

Last year, Singla filed another complaint against Manpreet, alleging that he favored a private carrier in securing contracts for the food grain transportation business. Badal deleted the charges against him, describing them as “fake”.

Bhagwant Man’s government has been on a collision course with opposition parties over a slew of alleged corruption cases against its senior leaders. A recent development has been the arrest of former Deputy Prime Minister OP Soni in an alleged corruption case. About half a dozen top congressional leaders have already been booked and arrested in corruption cases by the Mann government, prompting allegations of political vendettas.