SAD objects to GMADA’s Rs 1,000-cr tender, says will push ‘thousands of small contractors towards unemployment’

A major controversy has erupted in Mohali following the publication of a single, clubbed tender exceeding Rs 1,000 crore by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) for various development works in the city.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Mohali chief sevadar Parvinder Singh Sohana alleged that the government’s policy is “promoting large-scale corruption while simultaneously driving thousands of families towards unemployment”.

Sohana pointed out that the GMADA had earlier handed over several roads to the Municipal Corporation (MC) for maintenance for crores of rupees. “Now, those roads have been taken back only to create a large tender, as the road length remaining under GMADA alone was insufficient to float such a massive contract,” he alleged.

The SAD leader further said that earlier, different works were awarded to different firms, but this time road works, horticulture works and public health engineering works have all been merged into a single tender.

“By clubbing tenders worth more than Rs 1,000 crore, small contractors are being deliberately pushed out of the system. This directly creates monopoly,” Sohana said, adding that “the harmful impact of monopoly has recently been witnessed in the aviation sector, where passengers suffered due to the collapse of a single dominant airline.”

“This money belongs to the public, collected through taxes, but the government is preparing to hand it over to corporate houses and, through that route, fill its own pockets,” he alleged.

Sohana said the government’s claims of generating employment stand in sharp contrast to ground reality.

“On one hand, the government talks about providing jobs; on the other, small contractors are being reduced to daily labourers,” he said.

He further claimed that even GMADA officials are concerned about who would take responsibility for such massive projects in the future. “I am continuously receiving calls from contractors and employees who are deeply worried,” he said.

Reiterating the party’s stand, Sohana said the SAD will stand firmly with contractors and employees.“If required, we will fight a legal battle and also take to the streets.”

He also alleged that prime-location sites in Mohali and one of Asia’s best air-conditioned vegetable markets, built under the leadership of late Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, are being prepared for sale for crores of rupees.

Additionally, Sohana alleged that a plan is underway to hand over shamlat (common) lands of 14 villages to builders, which have been merged recently in the municipal corporation Mohali.

Calling it a major scam, he said that in villages such as Lakhnour, where “the market price is Rs 20 crore per acre, the government is taking panchayat land at just Rs 4 crore per acre.”

Concluding, SAD district president asserted that injustice to small contractors would not be tolerated.

“The Shiromani Akali Dal will stand with its people under all circumstances. If needed, after proper legal preparation, we will knock on the doors of the courts as well.”