NURMAHAL
Gag Dhagara village residents have sought the Punjab chief secretary’s intervention to receive the contract -cum-lease money for its land auctioned by the mining department for extraction of minor minerals.
Dilbag Singh, a resident of Baina Pur village and a social activist in representation to the Punjab Chief Secretary said that the chief minister’s office had directed the water resources department to do the needful, but it was not done.
Dilbag Singh wrote in his representation that the former sarpanches of the village had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2015 seeking directions to a private contractor to deposit the balance amount of the contract money with the panchayat.
He said that ten Justice Surya Kant and Justice PB Bajanthri disposing of f the petition had said in their judgment dated February 2, 2016, that the needful including the determination of the amount payable by the private contractor should be done within three months. It had directed the mining department to deduct the amount from the security deposit of the private contractor and release the gram panchayat’s share within a month.
Dilbag Singh told the chief secretary that Rs1.48 crore was deducted by the mining department from the contractor’s security, but the gram panchayat did not get anything.
The representative said that the chief minister’s office has directed the principal secretary of the water resources department to do the needful but to no avail.
He said he has brought this issue to the notice of the principal sector of the water resources department adding that if the gram panchayat did not get its share, he will on behalf of the village residents file a contempt petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.