Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said both the previous Congress and the present Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s had pushed Punjab into debt with all development work coming to a stop since the last seven and a half years.
Addressing a large gathering on the occasion of martyrdom day of Shaheed Karnail Singh Isru at his native village here, the SAD president said “Punjabis like Shaheed Karnail Singh Isru have always given their all for the country.” He said while the Shaheed had made the supreme sacrifice during the liberation of Goa, Sikhs had made the maximum sacrifices in freeing India from British yolk.
Out of 121 Indians hanged by the British as many as 93 were Sikhs. Similarly, out of 2646 persons sentenced to life imprisonment in Andamans island as many as 2147 were Sikhs”.Asserting that both the previous Congress and present AAP government had pushed Punjab into debt, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “the State’s debt has risen from Rs 1.80 lakh crore during SAD tenure in 2017 to Rs 2.80 lakh crore during Congress rule”.
He said the AAP government had accumulated a further debt of Rs 80,000 crore in the last two and a half years alone”.Mr Badal said the AAP government was characterised by cheap propaganda exercises with Rs 1,000 crore being spent annually on advertisements.
He said the AAP government had ruined the health infrastructure by closing down rural dispensaries to open Mohalla Clinics which had failed to give any medical facility to the people at large. “The AAP government has failed to do any development be new road projects which are being terminated due to its failure to give adequate compensation to farmers or create new infrastructure like thermal plants”.
He said in stark contrast the previous SAD government had created road infrastructure worth Rs 30,000 crore and made Punjab power surplus by establishing three new thermal plants. “The SAD government was also responsible for establishing new airports besides giving free power to farmers and introducing novel social welfare schemes like “atta - daal” and “Shagun” schemes. “We even introduced the SC Scholarship scheme under which 3.5 lakh SC students were awarded scholarships annually as compared to only one lakh students getting the same now” yearly.
Asserting that the AAP government tenure was marked by scams like the Mid Day meal scam under which the contract for food given to lactating and pregnant mothers and children had been taken away from the State cooperative Verka and given to a black listed company.
He said similarly the contract to supply DAP fertiliser to farmers had also been given to a private players resulting in 65 per cent of samples failing the authenticity test. He said the AAP government had even closed Sewa Kendras and chemist shops and presided over the collapse of the law and order and emergence of goonda raj.
Speaking about the discrimination meted out to Punjab, Mr Badal said “our capital city of Chandigarh has been taken from us as have Punjabi speaking areas and our River waters”. He said similarly the Sikh community, which had not got justice for the 1984 genocide, was now witnessing the takeover of its gurdwara managements.
The Shiromani Committee was broken to create a separate Gurdwara management committee for Haryana whose members are now been nominated by the Haryana government instead of electing the Committee”.Asserting that traitors within the Sikh community were trying to weaken it, Mr Badal appealed to the community and Punjabis at large to strengthen the SAD to ensure all round development of Punjab.
Senior leaders who spoke on the occasion included, SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Maheshinder Singh Grewal, Yadwinder Yadu & YAD President Sarabjit Singh Jhinjar.EOM