Image Source: Agencies

Aug 13, 2025: The Punjab Government is looking at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) property, which is worth Rs 20,000 crore, to get a loan against it to pay for its populist plans now that the land pooling policy has been removed.

The Housing and Urban Development Department was asked to prepare an inventory of GMADA's properties—including residential, commercial, and industrial sites in Mohali for auction after consulting with the Finance Department. At a recent meeting, which was led by Chief Secretary KAP Sinha, the issue was discussed. However, there was no response from the Chief Secretary to requests for comments. Sources said with meagre land capital and limited properties to auction, six of the eight housing development authorities Amritsar, Bathinda, Patiala, Jalandhar, Sri Anandpur Sahib (Urban) and Dera Baba Nanak were struggling to meet their administrative expenses.

Only GMADA and the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority were financially sound. Currently, GMADA owes financial institutions a loan of nearly Rs 5,000 crore. The sources said a part of the total inventory could be used to raise a loan from financial institutions to fund populist scheme such as providing Rs 1,100 monthly assistance to women above 18 years of age.

Officials claimed that the practice was not novel in defending the move. Not only had previous governments pledged future income to raise resources, but they had also mortgaged state assets to raise loans. During the SAD-BJP government, the state government had raised a loan of Rs 2,000 crore by mortgaging its properties to banks. After being developed in accordance with the optimal use of vacant government land scheme, the properties were given to PUDA for auction.

The Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) Mulazam Union, which is affiliated with the Punjab Subordinate Service Federation, expressed concern over reports that a proposal was under consideration to transfer Rs 500 crore from the financial reserves of the corporation to the government and observed a pen-down strike at the head office of the Industries Department here, with the state government reportedly directing various departments, including Industries, to deposit a collective amount of Rs 1,441.49 crore in its account. A meeting of the Board of Directors to discuss the issue was postponed.

The protesting employees feared that the move would severely damage the financial health of the corporation and jeopardise the livelihood of nearly 700 families, who depend on the PSIEC, said Ravinder Singh Randhawa, chairman of the union.