2.92 acres of land reserved by Gmada for Mohali
Mohali: Deputy mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi has won another important court battle. Under this, 2.92 acres of land has been reserved by Gmada to build an old age home in Mohali. This land is to be handed over to the Social Welfare Department, regarding which a letter has been sent by Gmada to the concerned department and the Deputy Mayor.
Giving information in this regard in a press conference today, Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi said that he had requested to the Punjab government to build old age homes in every district of Punjab, including Mohali, and under the right to information act have asked from the govt. regarding the construction of old age homes in Punjab. He said that under this information, he came to know that there is no government old age home anywhere in Punjab except Hoshiarpur district.
He said that when the officials of the Punjab government did not give him the expected answer, he filed a public interest petition in this regard in the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2014. He said that during the ongoing stage of the case, the High Court also included Haryana state in it.
Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi said in the presence of his lawyer Ranjivan Singh and former president of Senior Citizens Association S. Chaudhary that his case was settled by the High Court in 2020. He said that the case was settled on the basis that the Governments of Punjab and Haryana filed affidavits in the Hon’ble High Court that Punjab would build old age homes in each district by 2022 and Haryana by 2024.
Kuljit Singh Bedi said that he continued to pursue the matter and wrote letters to the concerned departments in September 2022. He said that when no satisfactory response was received, he issued a notice of contempt of court in this matter.
He said that he is happy that now GMADA has reserved 2.92 acres of land in Sector 78 in this matter and asked the Social Welfare Department to respond to this letter within 30 days. He said that he has also met the Director of Social Welfare Department in this matter and he is hopeful that the construction of old age home in Mohali will be started soon. He said that the big thing is that this land is being given free by Gmada. He also thanked the GMADA officials in this regard.
Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi said that before this, be it the issue of vacating the community center of Mohali from police possession, supply of 40 mgd of water supply from Kajauli, or any matter of public interest of Mohali, he has taken the matter to a conclusion by moving to relevant court of law through advocate Ranjivan Singh. He said that he will continue to fight for people’s issues in the same way.
On this occasion, his lawyer Ranjivan Singh said that although this work has taken 10 years, but this is a big decision which has come in favor of senior citizens in particular. He said that today there are elderly people who do not want to live with their children or children do not want to keep their parents. He said that similarly, a large number of young people have left the country and their elderly parents live here alone. He said that such old people are suffering from loneliness and many other problems that require an old age home.
S Chaudhary, former president of Senior Citizens Association, said that today children of a large number of families abuse the elderly and do not respect them, due to which they prefer to live in old age homes. On this occasion, he appreciated the efforts made by deputy mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi and said that this will provide relief to a large number of such elderly people.
