Ludhiana, May 20 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday congratulated the armed forces for foiling drone attacks from Pakistan and saving Punjab from destruction.

“I have earlier also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian army for resolutely blocking the drone attacks on Punjab. This stout defence has saved Punjab from destruction as the state bore the brunt of drone attacks,” Badal told the media here.

He blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for initiating a multi-crore “scam” to illegally “loot” hundreds of crores of rupees from land owners by allowing Change of Land Use (CLU) in backdate to exempt land holdings from acquisition in villages in the vicinity of the city.

The SAD president said, “At a time when the government is not able to provide even basic facilities, it has decided to acquire 24,311 acres in villages adjacent to Ludhiana. Since land owners will not be able to sell the land once the land acquisition notice is issued, a scam has been initiated to exempt all those who pay Rs 1 crore per acre in AAP coffers.”

“This scam is ongoing in other cities also, including Mohali, where the AAP government has issued acquisition notices despite its inability to develop 6,000 acres of land acquired earlier,” he said.

Asserting that never before in the state’s history of the state such a thing happened, Badal said, “We will not allow this daylight robbery to succeed at any cost. We will not allow any land to be acquired without taking the consent of farmers.”

He announced the party would stage a protest outside the office of the Chief Administrator of GLADA on May 31.

He also warned officers not to become collaborators in this “scam”, saying “due action will also be taken against you if you obey illegal orders in this regard”.

Badal also detailed how Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had “surrendered” all his powers and allowed AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain to “take over” governance of Punjab.

He said this “complete surrender” had allowed the AAP Delhi leadership to “plunder” Punjab.

He also cited the recent appointments of outsiders and Kejriwal team members as Chairmen of the Punjab Pollution Control Board and the Punjab Large Investment Development Board to “extort” money from businessmen.

–IANS

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