The Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Wednesday.

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 2

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjot Kaur Sidhu sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday in detecting the alleged multi-crore scam related to the misappropriation of funds given by the Centre for the rehabilitation of victims of the1984 anti-Sikh riots in Punjab.Approximately 22,000 riot-affected families came to Punjab, out of which around 15,000 families had come to Ludhiana. In June 2006, the then Union Government sanctioned Rs 2 lakh as compensation per family and an amount of Rs 440 crore was forwarded to the SAD-led Punjab Government.She alleged that in connivance with some Akali leaders, the money was siphoned off in the name of bogus beneficiaries. She demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged scam and asked for the assistance of the CAG to expose the guilty leaders.A three-member committee comprising the then DC, the ADC and an Akali leader, was constituted to disburse the amount.“Thousands of identification cards for distribution of Rs 2 lakh per family as compensation were found bogus. Also, those who were given the grants, received only Rs 1 lakh each and Rs1 lakh was taken as bribe.Thousands of card holders who did not receive their compensation were shown in papers to have already received it,” she said.She visited the PMO and discussed the matter at length. “The affected families met me and narrated their problems. More than 500 government flats were forcibly acquired, sold and hundreds of such flats were being illegally rented out. I brought every detail to the notice of the Prime Minister with proofs. I have urged him to reopen the inquiry, so that the aggrieved families can get their dues,” she said.The Ludhiana Vigilance Department investigated the matter on the basis of the complaints filed by the affected families and it had found gross discrepancies in the report it filed subsequently, but these were never probed.The affected families knocked at the door of the high court which directed that action be taken against the culprits, but the Punjab Government remained silent, she alleged.