Badal censured for demanding farmland for cricket stadium

By IANS

Chandigarh : A prime piece of agricultural land in Bathinda district that is being sought for building a cricket stadium has invited criticism from the opposition Congress.


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Young Congress legislator, Sukhpal Singh Khaira is up against the ruling Akali Dal acting president and MP Sukhbir Singh Badal, for trying to pressurize the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to part with 29 acres of prime agricultural land and give it to the Bathinda district cricket association for a cricket stadium.

He is also the son of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

“The dream of Sukhbir Badal to construct a cricket stadium in place of the research station speaks volumes of his childish vision. Needless to say, Punjab is passing through serious agrarian crisis with farmers under a colossal debt of Rs. 240 billion (24,000 crore).”

“The farmers are committing suicides in large numbers and finding it difficult to sustain economically, particularly the farmers of Malwa belt. Under these circumstances destroying an important agricultural research centre merely to build a cricket stadium, is like rubbing salt on the wounds of the farmers,” Khaira said in a statement here Thursday.

The legislator questioned the logic of having a big cricket stadium when the Mohali and Chandigarh stadiums already exist in the state.

“This move will hamper the research work in the Malwa belt for which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already sanctioned Rs 1 billion (100 crore),” Khaira said.

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