Capt backs Sidhu, says won’t allow illegal construction

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 19

Even as opposition against Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu gets stiffer, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said nobody could carry out illegal constructions just to benefit from the proposed regularisation policy on unauthorised colonies.

Talking to The Tribune, the Chief Minister said he had told the Local Bodies Minister to look into the concerns of party leaders. “However, it does not mean that people continue with the illegality. The government will soon come out with a regularisation policy,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the back-door diplomacy to arrange a meeting between Navjot Singh Sidhu and irked party MLAs — Sushil Rinku, Avtar Henry Junior and Rajinder Beri — could not materialise as the Local Bodies Minister left for Delhi to greet party president Rahul Gandhi on his birthday. After meeting him, Sidhu met the Chief Minister to keep his viewpoint before him.

Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Food and Civil Supplies Minister, said, “The demolition drive should be carried out after the cut-off date is fixed in the one-time settlement policy. We have submitted our suggestions to the Local Bodies Department.”

Senior minister Brahm Mohindra said a Cabinet sub-committee had been constituted to bring in a policy to regularise illegal colonies and give a chance to beneficiaries before carrying out a demolition drive.

“A demolition drive should be the last resort. Action should be taken against officials who have allowed the construction of illegal colonies,” added Mohindra.

On the similar lines, Sports Minister Rana Gumeet Sodhi said the idea was to stop the illegal construction from the cut-off date to be decided once the policy was approved by the Cabinet. “The need is to have an effective policy and stop illegal construction in the future,” he said.

After the meeting between the Chief Minister and the Local Bodies Minister, MP from Jalandhar Santokh Singh Chaudhary has been asked to arrange a meeting between Sidhu and the MLAs.