M A I N   N E W S

House committee summons Capt
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 18
The Privileges Committee of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha has summoned former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and former local bodies minister Ch Jagjit Singh on June 20 in connection with exemption of 32.10 acres of prime land, worth Rs 100 crore, located along the Amritsar-Jalandhar highway.

Congress MLA Bir Devinder Singh had raised the issue of exempting the land in a hush-hush manner on February 28, last year, during the stint of Capt Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister. On this, the protesting Shiromani Akali Dal, the opposition party at that time, had stalled the proceedings of the Punjab Assembly, demanding that a special committee of the House be set up to probe allegations against Jagjit Singh. A cross-section of MLAs had alleged that 32.10 acres of prime land was wrongly exempted from acquisition to benefit private builders and cause a loss to the state exchequer.