Senior Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh today warned the state government against "taking away" land belonging to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Bathinda for setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
"You can't take away the land meant specifically for agriculture research," he said while reacting to the state government's proposal to take away 175 acres of land from PAU regional research centre at Bathinda for setting up of AIIMS.
The Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha said, while he fully supported setting up of an AIIMS in Bathinda as it was the pressing need in the area, he asked the government to make alternate land arrangement for the medical institute.
"The government can always arrange alternate land in the same area instead of adopting an easy way out," the former Punjab Chief Minister said.
"It is a classic example of robbing Peter to pay Paul. We will not let anybody to rob PAU of its precious land meant for research. If the state wants an AIIMS to be set up in Bathinda it must arrange for the land also," Amarinder said.
He expressed "shock" over the "wisdom" of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal wondering as "how could anyone in his right senses take away the 'research land' from an institution like the PAU."
Earlier the Badals took away 30 acres for a cricket stadium there. If 175 acres is taken away now, there will be no land left with the PAU regional research centre, the Congress leader said.
Earlier, BJP MLA Manoranjan Kalia and Congress MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh had opposed the Punjab government's move of setting up AIIMS at Bathinda instead of Kapurthala.
