3 months on, children’s park still under private firm control

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, July 18

Three months after MLA North Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh submitted a memorandum to the Chairman of Amritsar Improvement Trust demanding that the Children’s Park at Ram Bagh be handed over to the public, no development has been reported till date. On April 16, the MLA North had met with Improvement Trust Chairman Ashok Talwar and demanded that the park be opened for general public. The MLA’s initiative to free the public park is being ignored by his own Aam Aadmi Party-led government.

It is worth mentioning here that in 2016 during the SAD-BJP regime, the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) had transferred the park at Ram Bagh to a private firm on an 11-year lease in gross violation of the established principles of public policy and governance. During the Congress regime too, no effort was made to free the public park.

AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap claimed that the AIT entered into an illegal contract with a private firm by transferring the park on lease to a private party in 2016. The Ram Bagh is a heritage park and it is looked after by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the maintenance work was being undertaken by the Municipal Corporation. “Even the Municipal Corporation has no right to authorise the lessor (AIT) to enter into such an illegal contract,” claimed the MLA.

MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap had raised a strong demand in this regard through question number 1011 in the Punjab Assembly in the budget session of 2024. The MLA claimed that the firm was illegally handed over to the private firm. The AIT has no authority to enter into such contract with any private firm. The object and intention of the contract was to provide an unfair advantage to a private party which is clear from the contents and phraseology of the contract. Not only this, the lessee (private party) has been authorised to charge separate fees for entry, parking and riding, which is completely contrary to the established principles of public policy. Even the term “high-powered committee” is not defined in the agreement. The formation of such a “high-powered committee” for this nefarious purpose further abets the alleged nexus of the political mafia, the MLA stated in assembly.

‘Unfortunate to ignore public demand’

n Kunwar Vijay Partap, MLA North, said, “This is very unfortunate. It was the first time when I had visited someone to submit a memorandum during my two years as an MLA. I had raised a genuine issue with the AIT Chairman. It is sad that issues related to public are being ignored. No action has been taken in this regard.”