M A I N   N E W S

Trust land in Giani Puran Singh’s name
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 16
Giani Puran Singh, head granthi, Golden Temple who is in the news due to his non-participation in the meetings of high priests, is in a controversy again as he got the ‘girdawri’ of prime land, belonging to the “Sikh Shaheed Parivar Trust” at Chabba village, near here, in his own name with alleged connivance of revenue officials.

The act of Giani Puran Singh has led to strong protest among the victims of anti-Sikh riots of 1984 as the land was purchased in the name of the trust, floated to help them.

However, Giani Puran Singh claimed that though he was not a member of the trust yet he had been cultivating the land at the behest of Baba Makhan Singh who originally floated the trust on a “contract basis”. He said half of the produce of the agricultural land was being sent to the ‘dera’ of Baba Makhan Singh and the rest was being taken by him. He further claimed that he had been cultivating the land since 1985 when the trust was floated and hence ‘girdawri’ could be corrected in his name.

Interestingly, the record of ‘girdawri’ mentions the name of Giani Puran Singh as “ Singh Sahib” (Sikh High Priest). The ‘girdawri’ was done on March 5 though the “disputed” land was purchased by Gurmakh Singh, sarpanch, Chabba village and Ranjit Singh on February 7 this year (about a month before the girdawri in the name of Giani Puran Singh).

Both Gurmakh Singh, sarpanch, Chabba and Ranjit Singh who purchased the land from original land-lord Sant Ram, have challenged the orders of Mr Parveen Kumar, Naib Tehsildar who had ‘wrongly’ done ‘girdawri’ in the name of Giani Puran Singh.

However, Giani Puran Singh, who showed the site to this correspondent said that the land had been cultivated by him since 1985. He said the land produced 44 bags of paddy and 22 were sent to ‘Dera Baba Makhan Singh’. Baba Baldev Singh, who is also a trustee of the “Sikh Shaheed Parivar Trust” said that the land was handed over to Giani Puran Singh by Baba Makhan Singh for cultivation.

He, however, said the details could be obtained from Baba Makhan Singh who had gone to Canada these days. When this correspondent contacted ‘dera’ of Baba Makhan Singh, one Lakhwinder Singh said that he was un-aware of the details as son of ‘Babaji’, Mr Amandip Singh had gone to Mansa.

Giani Puran Singh admitted that he was neither an owner nor member of the trust. However, he alleged that the sarpanch and other villagers wanted to ‘grab’ the prime land. He also alleged that the occupants of the quarters, constructed by the trust adjoining the land were not “actual victims” of riots. “All of them had grabbed the quarters at the behest of the sarpanch and others”, he alleged. However, many of the occupants showed ‘red cards’ issued by the Deputy Commissioner.

It is interesting that one of the total 12 quarters is in possession of Giani Puran Singh himself. The occupants of the quarter Daljit Singh, Balwinder Singh, Binda and a Sarpanch who worker in the adjoining ‘Narindera Paper Mill’ admitted that they did not belong to the families of ‘riot victims’ or ‘shaheed parivars’. They said they had occupied the quarter at the behest of Giani Puran Singh. They also admitted that they work on the land, being cultivated by Giani Puran Singh.

It may be mentioned, that earlier too, Giani Puran Singh had a land dispute with the SGPC. However, during the time of Bibi Jagir Kaur, the SGPC had withdrawn the case from court by passing a resolution, claimed Giani Puran Singh.

Though Giani Puran Singh claimed that the occupants of the quarters were ‘un-authorised’ yet the riot victims alleged that they were frequently ‘intimidated’ by the gunmen of the head granthi. Harjinder Kaur, Daljit Kaur, Joginder Kaur, Thakur Singh, Joginder Kaur, Mohan Singh, Parmjit Kaur and Ajit Kaur alleged that the trust which was floated to rehabilitate the victims of anti-Sikh riots or other ‘shaheed parivars’ had collected huge money from India and abroad in their name. However, instead of their proper rehabilitation, the members had been ‘misusing’ the funds for vested interests.

This correspondent saw an ‘un-authorised’ electricity connection of the tubewell installed by Giani Puran Singh.

Giani Puran Singh claimed that he got the ‘girdawri’ recorded in his name by using influence of Deputy Commissioner, Narinderjit Singh. He claimed that the ‘girdawri’ was done as per Revenue Act as he was the actual cultivator, Giani Puran Singh said that he won’t let the sarpanch and his supporters to ‘grab’ the land which was handed over to him by the trust through ‘unwritten agreement. He said the trust would open some hospital, college or school for helping the poor persons.

The owner of the land Sant Ram, when contacted said that he had sold the land to Sarpanch Gurmukh Singh and Ranjit Singh of Chabba village on February 7, which was being cultivated by Giani Puran Singh.

However, Giani Puran Singh alleged that the sarpanch and Ranjit Singh had indulged in tax evasion and got the sale deed registered with less revenue stamps.

On the other hand, about one acre land out of total four acres, belonging to the trust has been “grabbed” by a sect of Nihangs.