CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Chief Secretary will be the chairman of all local urban planning and development authorities in the state, the state cabinet decided yesterday. Earlier, the Chief Minister and concerned ministers headed these authorities.
This decision of the government has come under fire as it has given ammunition to the opposition parties, who have termed it as reducing the Punjab Chief Minister to a 'mere puppet' at the hands of his 'bosses from Delhi'.
The state cabinet yesterday met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and decided to appoint the Chief Secretary as the chairman of all local urban development authorities in the state such as Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA), Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and Greater Ludhiana Development Authority (GLADA), thus effectively transferring this responsibility from the Chief Minister, who traditionally headed them.
The cabinet amended Section 29(3) of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development (PRTPD) Act, thus empowering the Chief Secretary to head the development authorities, a move modelled after Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority in Gujarat and urban authorities of Noida, Meerut, Kanpur and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
Trying to justify the move, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that it was aimed at improving the functioning of the development authorities.
"The Chief Minister is the chairman of the authority, but due to his busy schedule, the work sometimes gets delayed. This change will help streamline proceedings and ensure timely decision-making. The cabinet had also decided to include the departments of revenue, industry, water supply and sanitation, and others in the decision-making process of the development authorities, a step intended to enhance interdepartmental coordination," Cheema said.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa accused former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of governing Punjab while Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been reduced to a mere puppet.
Bajwa said the Punjab cabinet's recent decision to strip the Chief Minister of chairmanship over various Urban Development Authorities, handing it instead to the Chief Secretary, is proof that Mann no longer calls the shots in Punjab.
"This is not a policy decision - it is a hostile takeover. Governance in Punjab is being run directly by Kejriwal and his handpicked persons," Bajwa said.
Taking direct aim at Mann, Bajwa alleged that he has willingly surrendered Punjab's constitutional authority for political survival and personal perks.
"This decision is a betrayal of Punjab's self-respect and an outright insult to the office of the Chief Minister. The Congress will vehemently oppose this de facto power grab in the Vidhan Sabha," he added.
Calling it a "silent coup against Punjab's democracy," Bajwa warned that elected representatives are being systematically sidelined in favour of unelected, Delhi-appointed loyalists.
"This is not decentralisation. This is colonisation by Delhi," he said. "When AAP leaders visit your villages, ask them: who governs Punjab - Mann or Kejriwal?"
Bajwa also flagged the recent centralisation of power within the Punjab Development Commission, where the Chief Secretary was asked to indirectly report to Delhi's proxies.
"The same playbook is being used for development authorities, systematically stripping Punjab's elected leadership of all powers."
He raised alarm over the growing influence of non-Punjabi, unelected figures such as Seema Bansal, Shoikat Roy, Anurag Kundu, and Vaibhav Maheshwari - individuals with no stake in Punjab's future, yet occupying critical decision-making roles.
"These people were not chosen by Punjab. They were sent by Delhi, and their mission is clear: exploit Punjab to bankroll Kejriwal's political ambitions."
Bajwa further cautioned that this creeping control is laying the groundwork for controversial land pooling schemes that may bypass the cabinet and endanger the rights of farmers.
"This is not reform - it's a land grab in the name of governance."
Concluding his statement, Bajwa said, "This is no longer about politics. It is about Punjab's dignity, its autonomy, and its future. What more proof do we need that the man elected by the people - Bhagwant Mann - is merely playing second fiddle to Delhiwalas."
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said, "By appointing the Chief Secretary as Chairman of all urban planning and development authorities in Punjab, including PUDA, GMADA, GLADA, BDA, ADA, PDA, and others, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's meek and unabashed surrender to Arvind Kejriwal is now complete. He has handed over control of Punjab's lands and development funds to his Delhi boss through a bureaucrat, who is a close aide of Kejriwal."
Badal said, "This move is designed to hand over Punjab's entire wealth to looters, as it comes on the eve of Aam Aadmi Party government's plan to acquire thousands of acres of Punjab's land, including 24,000 acres in Ludhiana alone. This move is also final proof that Punjab is now being directly controlled by non-Punjabis, and even the pretence of ruling through Bhagwant Mann has ended."
"It is common knowledge that Punjab bureaucrats report directly to Kejriwal and his non-Punjabi associates. Never in Punjab's history has a bureaucrat been appointed as chairman of any authority in which the Chief Minister and his ministers are ex-officio members. Will the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues now attend meetings chaired by their subordinate officers?" he added.
Badal further said, "We strongly condemn this move as a power-hungry manoeuvre by Kejriwal to consolidate control and exploit Punjab's resources. As president of Punjab's only regional party, Shiromani Akali Dal, I assure all Punjabis that we will strongly resist forcible acquisition by this non-Punjabi lobby through brazen abuse of government power."
Punjab BJP spokesman Pritpal Singh Baliawal said that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has now officially handed over all development bodies to the Chief Secretary, and further Chief Secretary appointed Delhi AAP nominees replacing himself because he claims he's "too busy."
"What have they ever contributed to this state? Nothing. They have been installed to drain resources of the state for Kejriwal's empire in Delhi. Now, the next step seems to be putting these outsiders in control of development authorities as well. Is this the real blueprint?" he asked.
Baliawal said, "The land pooling scheme to loot farmers' land in the name of development? To let Kejriwal's appointees run cabinet-level decisions? Will even the elected ministers be replaced next? This is the final stamp for dummy CM."