kdsingh80 Posted December 10, 2015 Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 Quote ANDIGARH: The last place from where you expect a state government to raise funds is jails and a widow home. But that is precisely what the Punjab government has done in the past two months to tide over its severe financial crisis. The Gandhi Vanita Ashram for widows in Jalandhar and the state jails at Bathinda, Amritsar and Goindwal are just some of the dozen official real estate that the state government has mortgaged to raise a massive Rs 2,100 crore loan to fill up its depleted coffers. The widow home has heritage value as Mahatma Gandhi had once stayed here during his visits to Punjab. It was built in 1947 after Independence to support widows among Partition refugees. Documents that TOI has from Punjab's urban development department and chief minister's office (CMO) reveal that the government has mortgaged the properties between 2013 and 2015 to support its subsidies and state schemes. The Akali Dal-BJP government is facing a debt of Rs 1.25 lakh crore and has found it tough to pay even salaries to its staff. TOI has acquired all mortgage deeds signed between Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) that has chief minister Parkash Singh Badal as chairman and five nationalised banks. From lands meant for multiplexes to old district courts, jails and residential complexes each in Amritsar, Bathinda and Muktsar, there is nearly every type of establishment that has been mortgaged. At the top of the list stands Gandhi Vanita Ashram site that houses 120 widows and a small school that educates 250 girls. As many as 67 families live within the ashram. The staff and women are yet to be rehabilitated to the new complex which is being built. According to the deed signed on December 31, 2013, the ashram's offices, entire 80-feet wide road and pavement and parking area have been mortgaged for Rs 250 crore. "The old building is already in a dilapidated condition," said an inmate who works as a tailor and feels very uncertain about her future. Tell us how good taste #stayswithyou—Blender's PrideBlenders Pride Flaunt your style quotient with Moto 360 2nd gen smartwatchMotorola Recommended By Colombia The documents also show that 3.73 acres reserved for a multiplex by Amritsar Improvement Trust has been mortgaged for a Rs 100 crore loan from Andhra Bank at an interest rate of 10.25% annually. The money is to be repaid before March 2018. Another Rs 400 crore have been raised against 11.28 acres on which Amritsar's old mental hospital stands. While the 350-bed hospital has already been shifted to a new site, the doctors insist that the government should have simply extended the building instead of raising loans against the unused land. One doctor told TOI that they desperately need more bed to manage the rush. Top Comment SHAME on RSS-AKALI govt who bring a prosperous state down to this state in which they owe 200,000crore to centre and Mod...Read MoreDalit tiger Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, who holds the housing and urban development portfolio was not available for comment. PUDA officials meanwhile dub the mortgaging as routine. The burgeoning interest on the loans has not deterred them. "It is an economic model by which we can get money and use it for the right purposes. We are trying to find ways to settle the fund crunch. We are paying back interest and not stopping the instalments to banks," said Manvesh Sidhu, chief administrator, PUDA. Besides, three residential sites, each in Jagraon, Mansa and Patiala, with nearly 3,000 residential and 400 commercial plots yet to be sold to public, have been mortgaged for Rs 750 crore loan with Canara Bank. In Jalandhar, the government has also mortgaged two more state offices including an old building that until few years ago housed the deputy commissioner and senior superintendent of police. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Punjab-goes-bust-puts-widow-home-and-jails-on-girvi/articleshow/50099742.cms Share to Twitter 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSD1 Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 The Badals are beyond contempt. Even George Osbourne and IDS wouldnt sink to such depths to get money out of the common people. When are people there going to realise how much damage Badal has done trying to live like a foreign ruler? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsingh101 Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 9 hours ago, HSD1 said: The Badals are beyond contempt. Even George Osbourne and IDS wouldnt sink to such depths to get money out of the common people. When are people there going to realise how much damage Badal has done trying to live like a foreign ruler? What foreign rulers have you seen bowling about in the equivalent of a bottom of the range, market stall kurta pajama and national health glasses? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsingh101 Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I don't think there is a shortage of money by the way - I think it is just new scams people have thought up to juice some more people for funds. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSD1 Posted January 20, 2016 Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 On 29/12/2015 at 10:46 PM, dalsingh101 said: What foreign rulers have you seen bowling about in the equivalent of a bottom of the range, market stall kurta pajama and national health glasses? Eh? He's wearing traditional Punjabi business attire, stop being so racist. Seriously though I was more on about his attempts at building a road system and ambulance service which are more like something a cargo cult would do than what the people in E.Punjab actually need. And indebting them for his visions, 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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