The project is on the agenda of the board meeting to be chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
The fund-starved Pepsu Township Development Board (PTDB) in Rajpura has decided to sell a piece of two acres of prime land, designated as a green belt in the township plan, on Chandigarh-Patiala highway by converting it into a residential project, to generate money for the development of the town. Rajpura town is part of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s home-district Patiala and he is is the chairman of the board.
The project is on the agenda of the board meeting to be chaired by the CM. The meeting was earlier scheduled for Friday but was postponed.
The proposal, prepared by the PTDB, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, states that the board had shortage of funds and hence it was proposing to sell the land by cutting residential plots on the area and selling these at a reserve price of Rs 15,000 per square yard to generate funds for development.
The proposal has the residents fuming. A few of them have shot off letters to the Chief Minister stating that the green belt should be restored.
“The cities are gasping for breath. And our board is converting a green belt into a concrete jungle,” said Rajinder Raja, a Congress leader who is also a former councillor of the Patiala municipal corporation.
Lucky Talwar, a BJP leader and also a former councillor, said they were protesting as the land was being eyed by land sharks. “They just want this land sold off. I have fought for this green belt in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for so many years when shops were being constructed here. The municipal council had won the case. Since then it is a green belt with walls around it,” Talwar said.
Senior vice-chairman of PTDB, Jagdish Kumar Jagga, said he had recently taken charge. “I do not know what all had happened when this agenda was being prepared. I had asked the SDM about the the agenda and the plan to make a residential area on this land. He told me the decision was taken a long ago. But I have got many residents contacting me today. The meeting scheduled for Friday has been postponed. We have got time now. I will not let this happen. If it is a green belt, it will remain a green belt. We will take it up strongly,” Jagga said.
Rajpura MLA Hardyal Singh Kamboj, who is also a special invitee of the board, said he was not aware of any such proposal.
SDM, Rajpura Shiv Kumar said there was no proposal to make a residential project on green belt. “We protect the green belts and we will make residential plots only in the areas where the construction is allowed,” he said.