Former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s Land Deal under A Cloud, Gets Vigilance Dept Notice – News18

The Punjab vigilance bureau has sent a notice to former state finance minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manpreet Singh Badal, asking him to appear before it on Monday. Senior vigilance officials said the notice had been issued to Manpreet on a complaint of former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Sarup Chand Singla pertaining to the purchase of PUDA commercial land at a low price in Model Town, phase 1, Bathinda. Incidentally, Singla had also recently crossed over to the BJP.

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

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

However, in 2021, instead of auctioning the land, Manpreet, in connivance with officials, got the land in his name at a low price, alleged the complainant.

Last year, Singla lodged another complaint against Manpreet, alleging that he had favoured a private transport company in getting contracts for food grain transportation works. Badal has trashed the charges against him, terming them “fake”.

The Bhagwant Mann government has been on a collision course with the opposition parties over a slew of alleged corruption cases against their senior leaders. The recent development was the arrest of former deputy chief minister OP Soni in an alleged corruption case. About half a dozen senior Congress leaders have already been booked and arrested in corruption cases by the Mann government triggering allegations of political vendetta.