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Medical Institute
scam will rock Punjab Assembly
WSN Network
 CHANDIGARH:
Punjab's opposition Congress would aggressively raise in the winter
session of Vidhan Sabha the alleged multi-crore scam in allotment of
the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to a charitable
society headed by Akali leader Surjit Singh Rakhra on 99 years'
lease.
Party MLAs could
also stall proceedings of the House "in case of an unsatisfactory
reply" from treasury benches.
Former chief
minister Capt Amarinder Singh said Congress MLAs would strongly
raise the issue during the session scheduled to begin on December 7,
"to expose the corrupt deeds of the SAD-BJP government".
He said CLP
leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal was preparing the floor strategy to
corner the government on this issue. "Let Badal come clean on this
tainted deal and place the facts on the floor of the House.
Otherwise, Badal
should step down owning moral responsibility for causing a huge loss
running into crores of rupees to the state exchequer," Capt Singh
asserted.
Asked about the
PIMS deal recently, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had said he
did not wish to comment on it as the "state government has already
clarified its position".
Congress
strategists were also planning to press the government to constitute
a joint committee of the Vidhan Sabha to probe the alleged
irregularities in PIMS allotment.
"The Amritsar
Improvement Trust case was probed by the House committee to later
expel Amarinder from the Assembly on its findings. Now, Rs
2,000crore worth land of the medical college has been given on 99
years' lease to Rakhra for just Rs 131 crore. This is a big scam.
Let such a committee of MLAs be formed again to probe the PIMS
deal," a former minister said.
Capt Singh said
the Jalandhar Police had failed to lodge an FIR on the Congress'
complaint to book the CM, Sukhbir Badal and others. "The government
must appoint an official of the rank of IG or above to probe the
allegations against the CM and the Home Minister instead of
entrusting the inquiry to an SP-rank official," he demanded.
Legal experts
are working to file a public interest litigation in the High Court
to get the PIMS lease deal scrapped, he quipped.
25
November 2009
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