Relatives of former Congress minister Badal clarified: Government goods not linked to Chandigarh’s heritage; Bought by Manpreet for 1.82 lakhs

Jaijit Johal

The controversy over the disappearance of goods from the government house of two former Congress ministers of Punjab is not ending. After the allegations being leveled against former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, his relative has given a clarification. Jaijit Singh Johal, brother of Manpreet’s wife, said that Manpreet Badal had bought this item for 1.82 lakhs. It is not associated with Heritage of Chandigarh. Manpreet himself had bought it 15 years ago. The full cost of which has now been paid to the department.

Manpreet himself had made the goods
Johal said that there is a discussion on social media that this furniture is related to the heritage of Chandigarh. It was from the time of Le Corbusier. It’s not that furniture. In 2008, when Manpreet became the Finance Minister, it was prepared from the showroom of Sector 40. At that time it was made of 1.60 lakhs.

Akali minister kept it in the store
When the Akali minister came to that house, he did not use this material. It was kept in the store room of PWD. When Manpreet again became the Finance Minister in 2012, he got it removed from the store of PWD. What will be the condition of the goods which have been lying in the store for 10 years, it can be estimated.

We got it fixed, paid according to the rules
We got it removed and fixed it. After polishing, a new cloth was put on. Then PWD gave the option that if you want to keep, then pay it. We paid Rs 1.82 lakh for 15 years old goods. Johal said that we have got the entire item videographed.

this is the dispute
In fact, Manpreet Badal had got government house number 47 in Sector 2 while being the Finance Minister in the Congress government. When Manpreet Badal left the government residence, a dining table, 10 dining chairs and one service trolley and sofa each were not found from there. Apart from Manpreet, Gurpreet Kangar, who was a minister in the Congress government, was also accused that a total of 4.75 lakh items were found missing including two fridges, one LED, room heater, heat convector, swirl fan in his government house.