Mohali: Acting on a PIL filled by Mohali Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi, 2.92 acres of land has been reserved by GMADA to build an old age home in Mohali and 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.
While sharing information during 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.
It is pertinent to mention here that an application under the RTI Act was filled to sought an information from the Govt. regarding the construction of old age homes in Punjab and through an RTI application reply Bedi came to know that there is no government old age home anywhere in Punjab except in Hoshiarpur district.
Bedi said that when the officials of the Punjab government did not give him the information, he filed a Public Interest Petition in this regard in the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2014 and 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 Adv Ranjivan Singh and former president of Senior Citizens Association S. Chaudhary that his case was decided by the High Court in 2020, The Punjab government informed the HC that the state would complete construction of 21 old age homes, one in each district, by 2022 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 .
Kuljit Singh Bedi said that he continued to follow on the matter and wrote letters to the concerned departments, and in September 2022 he said that when no satisfactory response was received, he issued a notice of contempt of court in this matter.