CHANDIGARH, May 6: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today sought bar on selling the land belonging to the Punjab Agricultural University saying the land is meant for research and it cannot be squandered away just because somebody thinks he can make huge money out of it.
Referring to the revelations made by the outgoing Vice Chancellor of the university Dr MS Kang, Capt Amarinder said, it was shocking as how the Akali-BJP government was trying to sell the land of the university without caring about agricultural research.
He wondered, how could the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal think of selling PAU land, which is meant for research. “Mr Badal must know that the agriculture research institutes like PAU need lot of land and you can’t sell it to generate funds”, he remarked, while pointing out, it was during different tenures of Mr Badal that huge chunk of land belonging to PAU was sold out.
Capt Amarinder Singh said, even for developing a cricket stadium in Bathinda the government took away the PAU land only. He remarked, “Mr Badal seems to be acting like a real estate dealer who values land by its market price only and not by its real worth which lies in the research conducted on it”. He said, this land was meant for cotton research and now there cannot be any research on cotton.
The PCC President pointed out, Punjab is looking forward to second green revolution. “But how can we have a second green revolution when our scientists in the university have no land to research or work on?” he asked, while remarking, the PAU land is too precious and invaluable to be sold as it is meant for research only.
The PCC President expressed shock over the way the outgoing VC was treated by this government, particularly the Chief Minister. He pointed out, even his predecessor was treated the same way by Mr Badal just because he did not do his bidding which was prompted more by partisan needs and vested interests than the interest of the institution.